Grace Gummer is standing by her portrayal of Caroline Kennedy in FX’s controversial series Love Story two months after Jack Schlossberg criticized her performance.
“All I can say is, I really can’t imagine what it’s like to see your life portrayed onscreen,” Gummer, 40, said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Saturday, June 6. “My goal was to play her with honesty and compassion and delicacy.”
The actress added, “I have an immense amount of respect for her.”
Schlossberg, 33, previously spoke out about Gummer’s portrayal of his mother during an April 15 appearance on Next Question with Katie Couric, admitting he showed Kennedy a clip from the show, “and we were laughing so hard, as if that’s how my mom acts.”
“Keep in mind, it might be entertaining, but it’s fiction,” Schlossberg said of the series, which he described as “stupid.”
While breaking her silence on Schlossberg’s remarks, Gummer said that no one from the Kennedy family has contacted her directly about the show. As for whether she would chat with Caroline if granted the opportunity, she told The Hollywood Reporter, “I would let her speak.”
Gummer also reflected on a particularly poignant scene from the season finale, at which point Caroline found out about the fatal 1999 plane crash that claimed the lives of her brother John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette Carolyn.
“You have to sort of search within yourself in a very deep way, emotionally,” Gummer said of how she got into character and filmed her visceral reaction to the devastating news. (JFK Jr., Carolyn and Lauren Bessette were discovered five days after the crash on July 21, 1999.)
“Technicality is really important to me as an actor. Knowing the lines was, first and foremost, my center and my mark within the scene,” she added. “I made sure that I knew all the beats because a lot of the words were repeated, but they were all said in different ways. So I really tried to make sure that I knew what I was saying when I was saying it so that I wouldn’t have to think of any of that.”
Gummer said she bared it all for that scene, noting, “I really let myself go.”
“There’s nothing I left behind, physically or emotionally. I let myself be completely open and vulnerable,” she continued. “And, to be honest, I try to imagine what it’s like to lose someone you love, and it’s unimaginable, but I tried to do my best.”
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