Ryan Murphy’s Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette is giving FX viewers insight into one of the nation’s most talked-about relationships. Part of that story is Michael Berman, who co-founded George magazine with JFK Jr., and who is played wonderfully by actor Michael Nathanson.

In an interview with TVBrittanyF.com, Nathanson spoke about his approach to portraying real people, both in Love Story and in the hugely successful Broadway version of Good Night and Good Luck, opposite George Clooney. He reflected on working across both stage and screen, and what it’s like when the two come together. Plus, what are some of his other favorite roles from a varied career?

Brittany Frederick: You recently completed Good Night and Good Luck on Broadway. What was it like to transition from the immediacy of theater back to the format and process of television in Love Story?

Michael Nathanson: I think it really depends on the project. In this case, we had a lot of freedom to explore these characters and have a lot of fun with it. And I think in some ways, this show felt a little bit like a play, because it was people talking in a contemporary way. It wasn’t like doing a Marvel show or doing something that was high-concept. It felt very real.

My whole career, I’ve [been] going back and forth from theater to film. When I’m doing a lot of TV or film, I crave doing theater because I need that response from the audience, and I love that community feeling and being with a cast. And then then I can’t wait to go back and do TV and film so I can craft my performance a little bit more, and always have another chance at it—because that’s the biggest difference.

When you’re doing theater, you get one shot at it. And then you go off stage [and] you’re like, I really thought I had a better idea for that moment. I should have done that. But in film and TV, not always, but when you reach a certain level, you’re like, could we do that again? I want to try something else. Or the director will give you a note. They’re different and they’re not so different. I don’t really attack either one from a totally different perspective. I try to just stay very authentic and in the moment with whomever I’m performing with, regardless of how many people are actually watching at that moment.

How would you describe the experience when those two mediums intersected in the CNN live broadcast of Good Night and Good Luck?

That was insane. We didn’t know about it until like two weeks before. Mr. Clooney came to us and was like, we had this idea. We’d love to do this. What do you guys think? It was unprecedented, because nobody had ever done that before. They’ve done archival tapings of shows, but never simulcast to like the world, to millions and millions of people. So you’re like okay, what is that going to be like?

We didn’t have tons of preparation. There were no long rehearsals that were added on to this. Basically, they said look, we’re going to come in, we’re going to shoot this like a sports event, almost like documentary style. You guys just do what you do. And so a couple of days before we did the actual broadcast, we met the director of the of the broadcast, and they were setting up cameras all over the stage, but they were all hidden. So we as performers on stage, it looked exactly the same as it always did, except for when you look out in the audience.

They took out two rows and they had steadicams and a dolly track, and it was like, am I on a film set? Am I not on a film set? And I don’t think the people who bought tickets for that night had no idea when they bought their tickets that it was going to be the night of this broadcast. So I think everybody was sort of in a weird, otherworldly space.

This was very much an ensemble piece, so you knew that at some point, the camera [was] going to be very much trained on you. And I think I knew when that camera’s on me, that’s millions of people looking at just my face. Oh, my God, I better deliver this line. There was a little bit of that anxiety. Once we got into the flow of the show, though—because it was the second to last performance we did anyway—we were so ingrained and we felt so comfortable on stage, especially with each other, that I found it quite exhilarating, to be honest. It was cool.

You portrayed a real person in that play, and you’re playing another real person as Michael Berman in Love Story. Does your process have to change compared to when you’re playing a fictional part?

It depends. If you’re playing somebody who is very well known in the public eye—like when George was playing Edward R. Murrow, there’s countless footage of Edward R. Murrow. Biographies, information about his life, interviews, so much stuff, so you have a very ingrained idea of what this person looks like, how he sounds, how he acts. You have a deep well to draw from.

A lot of the real people that are portrayed in the arts are not household names… For example, all the reporters in Good Night and Good Luck, some of them were on camera, but those little bits and clips are few and far between. And jump to playing somebody who made his name in the 1990s, pre-Internet, there was not a lot of footage for me to go through, to be like okay, this is how this guy looks. This is how he acts.

iI’s so important to keep focus on the moment-to-moment beats of a scene and what you’re playing within the context of whatever is going on in that relationship. Regardless of whether it’s a famous person or not, what are those beats in that scene? What am I playing? What is my relationship to the other person or other people in that scene? And what is my objective in this scene? Am I mad? Am I sad? Am I happy? They’re still human beings, so ultimately, you have to play them as human beings. They weren’t thinking of themselves as famous or bigger than life when they were actually going through the events that made them famous. They were just behaving as themselves. You have to find that humanness within you, that connection to those feelings within you, and play it as authentically as possible.

And it’s a little bit easier, quite frankly, when you’re playing somebody who is not as well known in the public eye. Michael Berman, who started George magazine with JFK Jr., was well-known in certain circles. But not somebody that people know he always behaved a certain way, or looked a certain way. So you have a lot of leeway to sort of create your own character, and you can only be yourself. It’s most important to find those specific moments in that scene that connect to you and how you would behave in those situations.

What are some of the things that excited you about being part of Love Story?

It was really cool to play a character in the ’90s. I was a teenager in the ’90s, and so for me, I get to sort of go back to this time period that I saw from a child’s perspective and be my own age now, and see what that’s like. It was very cool. The production design and the costumes and everything [were] just so authentic and great. They pulled so many real pieces from that time. It felt like you were totally inhabiting a different time.

I loved playing in the Ryan Murphy universe. It’s always been a dream of mine to be in one of his shows. I’ve always been a huge fan of American Horror Story. I love horror, I write horror, [I’m] trying to make several horror movies, so I was like someday I’m going to be in one of these Horror Story [seasons]. But then you get into a Ryan Murphy show, and they’re all kind of similar with that intensity. There’s something kind of otherworldly about them. He does these time periods with such panache and such intensity and such aliveness, so it was very cool to just be a part of that.

The writing is incredible in the show. At the premiere, I got to see the first episode, and it is so cinematic and so beautiful.. My character has a very definitive arc, and was really fun to shoot. But getting to know Paul [Kelly], who played JFK, was a treat. We’re sort of playing friends slash antagonists in the show; they had a very volatile relationship while they were working on the magazine and they were very different people. But off-camera, [we] truly loved each other and had a blast and just made each other laugh as much as possible. It was a really, really fun shoot. Everyone was super-cool.

For folks who watch Love Story and want to see something else you’ve done, is there another role you’d recommend or one that you just also loved doing?

The thing I’m most proud of being a part of is The Knick. Working with Steven Soderberg was a dream come true for me. We had done a film together, and then he called me up and was like oh, we have this part for you in the show. It’s going to be really fun. And getting to play a character during that time period with such an incredible roster of actors—Clive Owen, Andre Holland, the list goes on and on. Steven Soderbergh really gives you a lot of freedom to explore who your character is, and it’s a real collaboration.

I’m very proud of the work that I did on that show, and I’m just so proud of the show from a production standpoint. I just think it’s a real seminal piece of television that I think is maybe unmatched. I know that it was Barack Obama’s favorite show, which is a pretty good endorsement, but we only lasted two seasons. I think it was a little bit ahead of its time, but it’s a terrific show to watch… I come in towards the end of the first season, then I’m in the second season.

The two tentpoles of my career at this point, that people know me the most from, are that and The Punisher… That was like a kid in a candy store. That was like Charlie Bucket going to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, every day that I got to work on that show, because it was just like oh, there’s the battle van. I would open a door and one of the other characters from the from the universe was there. I would run into Charlie Cox. Just knowing the characters and knowing the whole world, that was a trip. If you see me in that show, you can truly see how much I am enjoying myself. That was like winning a Golden Ticket. That was the coolest thing ever.

Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette airs Thursdays at 10:00 p.m. on FX. Photo Credit: Featured image by MayaShoots.com/Courtesy of E2W Collective; Love Story still courtesy of FX.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.