Daryl Hannah is known for her extensive film career—Splash, Roxanne, Steel Magnolias, among many others—but she’s about to be thrown back into the spotlight for another reason: her love life with John F. Kennedy Jr. in the early ’90s. Back then, the Hollywood starlet and the son of President John F. Kennedy were fodder for People magazine, Page Six, and the paparazzi who tracked their every move around New York City.
Ryan Murphy’s new anthology series, Love Story: John F. Kennedy, Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, may center on the romance between Kennedy and his eventual wife, but the story can’t be told without also including Hannah. In part because she, as many have written, somewhat overlapped with the introduction of Bessette.
Hannah, now 65, has never spoken at length about her romance with Kennedy, though she did tell Entertainment Weekly in 1993 that she, understandably, found it annoying to get asked about the relationship all the time. “This morning I call up my plumber, and even he asks me,” she said at the time. “Why can’t people talk about something else?” So, perhaps knowing she’d want to remain private, the Love Story producers did not reach out to her for this series.
However, now that the first three episodes of Love Story are streaming, Dree Hemingway—who plays Hannah in the anthology—is hoping she’ll be ready to talk, even if it’s in private.
“We’ve got to meet,” Hemingway tells me. “I just love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. One day. One day our paths will cross.”
Hemingway, who comes from her own famous dynasty (her mother is Oscar-nominated actor Mariel Hemingway; her great-grandfather is Nobel Prize–winning author Ernest Hemingway), says she gained a newfound respect for Hannah after studying her past interviews and learning more about the star.
“She’s very smart, she has a lot of love,” Hemingway says. “And she’s so cool. She’s made me rethink a lot of things.” (More on that soon.)
But for Hemingway, playing Hannah was also about proving to herself that she could take on such a meaty role. Although the actor studied classical theater at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and earned critical praise for her role in director Sean Baker’s 2012 Independent Spirit award-winning film Starlet, she’s been mostly known for her modeling career with Gucci, MiuMiu, Valentino, Tiffany & Co, Chloe, Ferragamo, and other luxury brands.
But acting, as well as producing, is where so much of her interests lie now. “It was such a magical thing working on a Ryan Murphy show because everybody who’s involved is so incredible at what they do, and it’s such a well-oiled machine,” she says. “It was everything I wanted and more.”
Glamour: What did it mean to you to book this role?
Dree Hemingway: It’s literally the world. The world. I mean, as an actress, the amount of auditioning we do, we never hear back, the amount of soul and work we put into things. And then this came around, it was one of those shows that I was like, I really, really want to be in this. I am so happy.
What went into playing your version of Daryl Hannah?
A lot of it was getting the voice down. I have an incredible dialect coach. Daryl has her own particular voice…she’s very distinctive. I want everything to feel really grounded and lived in, so it doesn’t feel like you’re playing a character, but you are the character. Hopefully that came through.
Had people told you before this that you looked like Daryl Hannah?
It’s funny because my mother and Daryl look very similar as well. And they know each other. I found a really epic photo of Daryl, my mother, and Debbie Harry together where I was like, “Mom, look at that.” I have never met Daryl, but she’s such an icon to me. She’s mega. I love her so much. I want to scream it from the roof how much I love her and what a joy it was, but it was so much of my imagination as well.
Tell me why you love her so much.
I have searched so many interviews with her, and she really is a very caring person. She’s very smart, and she has a lot of love. And she’s very sensitive. I think that’s a really beautiful thing. She’s strong, but there’s a very feminine side to her. There’s a delicacy and a fragility that I think is so beautiful. All of this is only what I could get from watching her, especially during that time period. I even read something where she lived in a teepee in Colorado for a year. I was like, That’s cool. Also, I was vegetarian for a very long time, and I went back into being vegetarian playing her, and it’s been really nice.
She’s made me rethink a lot of things, which has been lovely. Even though I’m playing the characterized version of her, there are a lot of things that have been very beneficial to me as a human being and as a woman. And that I really think I wanted to rub off on me in some way. So I just say, “Thank you, Daryl.”
Had you thought about reaching out to her when you booked the role?
I wanted to reach out to her when I first booked it, but I was also like, I don’t want to...because this is a fictional version of…I don’t know. I think I was scared. I think there’s a part of me that just really wants—if she is to watch this, I hope she’s proud.
This whole show is so sensitive because it is based on real people, and it is also fictionalized to be entertainment for people. But also, I do think there’s so much love in this. I love love. It’s why I wanted to be an actress. There’s so much beauty. I love the passion. It’s really the passion of falling in love and the heartbreak of love, but also what it teaches you of the trials and tribulations of all of it.
What would you like to ask Daryl if you could?
I would just like to have a conversation and hang out with her. I don’t know. It feels so personal.
She’s never talked really about this time in her life with JFK Jr.
No, but I imagine it is a hard thing. I really think she loved him so much. They lived their relationship in the eyes of spectators, and that has to be so hard. It wasn’t just a celebrity relationship. I think where [Love Story creator] Connor Hines is so genius is that he really created this world [where you get to understand their relationship]. Daryl loved John so much, and I think he loved her too. I just think that he…I can only imagine that he found his twin flame in some way with Carolyn, and that is the reason he didn’t end up with Daryl.
I feel like we all aspire to have the kind of magnetism and chemistry that we see with Carolyn and John in Love Story, but most of us can deeply relate to Daryl and what she went through. She’s like, Why isn’t this enough? If you wanted to be with me, you would. And he just can’t get there, which is understandable too. Of course, the next person he falls for is the person he marries.
It’s so relatable. How many times have I heard a girlfriend being like, We were together for this amount of time, and then all of a sudden he’s getting married to somebody else. It’s so heartbreaking.
You talked about working with a dialect coach. What’s the key to getting her voice right, because it is so specific?
So she’s not far from [my voice], but I’m definitely more high pitched. Everything is really soft with her. The As are a little more A…it’s a little nasally, but a little more down low.
You’re blonde and have long hair, but did you have to do much to match Daryl’s shade?
It was slightly more gold. I think she was a cooler blonde with a little bit of natural [highlights]. I have an amazing hair colorist in New York named Lena Ott who did the color for me, and that was really fun. And then we cut bangs for it. We were going to do a wig, and I was like, “No, no, no, no. Let’s just cut the bangs.” I felt like it was also so much a part of her that it helped me get into the character. I’ve tried to embrace the bang, but I don’t think I’m a bang girl. I love them for her. It’s funny because I saw myself onscreen and was like, Oh, bangs are fun on you. But the problem is, I don’t know how to do them. I tried it once with a curling brush, and it looked like I was an ’80s side-skater.
What was it like the first time you and Paul saw yourselves together as Daryl and John?
It was amazing. The casting is truly insane, isn’t it? Paul is one of my favorite people on planet Earth. I love him so much. He will be my friend forever. The first thing we ever shot in character was the paparazzi shots, which was really fun. It’s fun to look at the pictures and then emulate that.
What shocked you when you were reading the scripts about Daryl and John’s time together? Was there anything that really surprised you that you found out was real?
I think that he was dealing with Jackie throughout the end of their relationship was a little shocking to me, in that I didn’t realize that that was going on as well. And then the passing of her dog, Hank. There was a lot.
Oh gosh, the scene with the dog destroyed me. And that actually happened.
I feel like that was her child for real. It was so heartbreaking to have that happen and wanting the person who you love to be there for you as well, but then also, his mother is dying. That was something I didn’t realize. It’s a lot to go on in a relationship. There’s so much devastation. It’s like a roller coaster of emotion that you’re feeling throughout this whole entire show.
New York in the ’90s is such a character in the show. Did you spend much time there during your formative years?
I lived in New York in second grade. I lived on the Upper West Side, and my mother was doing a show called Central Park West at the time, which was a Darren Star show. It was weird because I was living in Idaho and had grown up traveling around with my mother while she was on film sets. My impression of New York as a kid is a really big building place. Living in a high rise, looking out, and being like, Uh. Nobody lived in Tribeca at the time [which is where John and Carolyn lived].
That’s what I’ve heard, which is so wild to me. It’s so odd to see all the smoking in the show.
I lived in New York when people were still smoking inside. I remember when people were starting to say, “You can’t smoke inside.” Once, a friend of mine was smoking and was really mad about it and basically yelled at the whole entire restaurant, “Does anybody object to this?” And that was my last smoking inside experience.
Another thing that’s wild is all the Hollywood royalty in this show, given your family history, and then you have Grace Gummer (Caroline Kennedy), who is Meryl Streep’s daughter…
I love Grace. Truly, what a great actress. She really holds her own and is so natural, so fun to work with. And then Sydney Lemmon (Lauren Bessette) as well. Her grandfather, Jack Lemmon, was Daryl Hannah’s father in Grumpy Old Men.
Yes! Did you talk to Sydney about that?
Yeah, I was talking to her about that the other day. Actually, the funny thing is the only movie I watched while filming—because I was very adamant that I didn’t want to watch Daryl acting; I just wanted to watch her interviews—but one of my best friends, Mark, was like, “You’ve never seen Grumpy Old Men?” And I was like, “No.” So we did watch that. That was the only movie we watched. I was like, This is so funny and so not PC for today in any way. So brilliant and so funny.
And then you had scenes with Alessandro Nivola, who plays Calvin Klein; his son, Sam Nivola, was on The White Lotus as the youngest Ratliff son last season.
Yes, there’s a whole connection on this show.
Okay, let’s play some rapid-fire questions. What would your superlative be on set?
I was really always happy. Just dancing around. La, la, la, la. I mean, somebody came up to me at the premiere, and they’re like, “You’re just so happy.” And I said, “I am. I’m really happy to be here.”
What was your choice of beverage or snack on set?
They made a really good avocado sandwich as a snack. I love a sandwich. And then beverage of choice is a really good coffee. Black. Americano girl. Cold. Iced or hot. I tried to venture into latte land and all of that, but it just wasn’t for me.
What is your favorite way to spend a day off from set?
With my family is the best way. Going out with a friend, having lunch, shaking it off.
How long were you in New York to film Love Story?
I was in New York for on and off three and a half months. I loved it. It was really hot because it was dead summer, but I love it so much. New York holds my soul. I always go to Buvette, and I always go to Via Carota. Those two women who are doing Via Carota, Commerce, and Buvette are geniuses to me. They’ve hooked me for life. And then I also really like a Dimes and Kiki’s moment, which is in the Lower East Side.
Was there any look of Daryl’s that rubbed off on you?
My character wore a lot of long flowy dresses, and I’ve definitely bought a few good cool vintage dresses since then. Also, the baseball cap with the Levi’s, which I’ve always worn. But yeah, there’s some imagery that’s really rubbed off on me. There’s specifically a moment where she’s wearing this really pretty red dress that I found. I don’t know where she’s coming from, but it was inspired by that Valentino look I wore to the premiere. She was such a bold risk taker with her fashion choices. It never felt like she was trying to emulate anybody else’s style in any way. I really like that.
Finally, what’s next for you? What's on the horizon that you’re excited about?
I’m really excited about the movie The Girl that I’m doing about director Roman Polanski and Samantha Geimer [based on Geimer’s memoir about surviving sexual assault]. I’m playing her mother. I’m really excited about that. And then The Hemingway Files. We’re still in preproduction, but it’s a time in Ernest’s life that people don’t know about.
Love Story: John F. Kennedy, Jr. & Carolyn Bessette airs Thursdays on FX and Hulu. For more on the series, including its own fascinating story on how it came to be, click here.
