While the upcoming Netflix drama series “Kennedy” will chronicle the famous political dynasty from 1931 to 1944, the family’s signature Boston accent won’t be so pervasive.
Nick Robinson, who plays Joe Kennedy Jr., JFK’s older brother who was originally being groomed for the White House before he was killed in action during World War II, tells me, “We made the executive decision beforehand that we’re going to steer away from the Boston accent. So it’s subtle. Also, that accent has sort of changed over the years. It was initially like this mid-Atlantic upper-class accent and then it sort of changed to [what] I feel modern audiences associated more with working class Boston.”
Preparing for the role proved to be a history lesson for Robinson. “I knew about the Kennedy family, but I didn’t know much about Joseph Kennedy Jr., so that was a fun time to get a deep dive onto him and his life and his legacy,” he said at the recent premiere of his new Netflix rom-com “Voicemails for Isabelle.”
Laura Donnelly, who plays matriarch Rose in the eight-episode “Kennedy,” says she and Michael Fassbender, who plays patriarch Joe Sr., had prepared to use the couple’s accents before filming began. “Once Michael and I had arrived on set, we’d already decided that we’d already done our work on the accents,” Donnelly told me at recent “Sugar” Season 2 premiere in Los Angeles. “Then we found out that the general vibe was going to be pull it back. We were a bit like, ‘Oh, I don’t know who to do that.’”
