Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem in Talks to Play Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in New Biopic
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Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem are ready to become the Ricardos. The two Oscar winners may have found their next roles in Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, respectively.
E! News confirmed Kidman, 53, and Bardem, 51, are in talks to portray the famous I Love Lucy co-stars and off-screen lovers in the movie Being the Ricardos.
The Trial of the Chicago 7’s Aaron Sorkin wrote the script and will direct it for Amazon Studios and Escape Artists.
The meta Being the Ricardos movie will follow Ball and Arnaz during a challenging week of filming the 1950s TV show I Love Lucy. The plot starts during a Monday table read and ends with a TV shoot on Friday in front of a live audience, according to Deadline.
The couple’s children, Lucie Arnaz, 69, and Desi Arnaz Jr., 67, will executive produce their parents’ official biopic.
Ball and Arnaz got married in 1940 before co-starring in the popular I Love Lucy, which ran from 1951 to 1957. They divorced in 1960.
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In 2019, Lucie Arnaz spoke with Good Morning America about what she wanted the film to communicate to fans.
“It’s always been hard for me to really comprehend the enormity of what I grew up in and her popularity. It creates an enormous amount of pride,” she said, adding that the movie will depict “the good, the bad, the ugly but primarily the good.”
However, the project seems to have faced several shakeups.
Back in 2015, news broke that Sorkin was interested in writing the screenplay. However, Twitter users immediately spoke out against the choice and criticized The Social Network scribe for not writing female characters with enough depth.
At the time, Cate Blanchett was in talks to portray Ball and was later confirmed for the iconic role in 2017.
In 2018, she spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the honor of portraying the small screen legend. The Carol actress said, “I’ve long been obsessed by Lucille Ball. Who hasn’t? I mean she’s not only as an actress, as a comedian, but as a producer, as a parent, as a force of nature within Hollywood.”
She continued, “You step onto a film set in America and the male and female bathrooms on a film set are called Desi and Lucy… Such is her influence.”
Blanchett, 51, called the movie “a work in progress… but one I am very excited about.”
It’s unclear why Blanchett exited the project, though it seems that Amazon is preparing to officially replace her with Kidman, who recently made waves in Big Little Lies and The Undoing.
As for Bardem, the Skyfall actor is currently working on The Little Mermaid live-action film, in which he’ll star as the King Triton to Halle Bailey’s Ariel.
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