‘She’s an amazing woman’: Nicole Kidman breaks silence about being cast as Lucille Ball and ‘delving into’ Aaron Sorkin’s research into the star
Nicole Kidman has broken her silence about being cast as Lucille Ball in an upcoming movie from Aaron Sorkin.
‘I love Lucille, having looked now and delved into her,’ said Nicole, 53, telling Variety that part of her preparation has been to screen old I Love Lucy episodes.
‘She’s an amazing woman. I’m very excited for people to see what Aaron found out about her and the way he’s interpreted Desi and Lucy and the way that it’s so rich. I didn’t know any of this,’ she confessed.
‘I love Lucille’: Nicole Kidman has broken her silence about being cast as Lucille Ball in an upcoming movie from Aaron Sorkin
Nicole has been having a career renaissance that was kicked off by an Emmy-winning turn in the starry HBO mini-series Big Little Lies.
Rumors began flying around earlier this month that she had been cast as Lucille Ball opposite Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz.
The reports led to a good bit of controversy over her casting and prompted Debra Messing to aggressively pitch herself for the role on Twitter.
Debra retweeted a string of Twitter users saying that she would be better suited to the project – including fellow sitcom star Valerie Bertinelli.
The lady herself: Rumors began flying around earlier this month that she had been cast as Lucille Ball opposite Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz; Lucille is pictured
While plugging herself for the part Debra also retweeted fans who brought up her tribute to I Love Lucy on the last season of Will And Grace.
During that tribute Debra got all dressed up as Lucille’s sitcom character Lucy Ricardo to recreate some of her bits, including her ad for Vitameatavegamin and her flailing attempts to work the assembly line at a chocolate factory.
However Nicole’s casting was defended by Lucille and Desi’s daughter Lucie Arnaz who posted a Facebook video giving her two cents.
Making her side known: However Nicole’s casting was defended by Lucille and Desi’s daughter Lucie Arnaz who posted a Facebook video giving her two cents
Lucie acknowledged: ‘There seems to be a lot of discussion about Nicole Kidman. “It should be Debra Messing!” “It should be Carole Cook!” I don’t know.’
However she noted that ‘We are not doing a remake of I Love Lucy. No one has to impersonate Lucy Ricardo, nor do the Vitameatavegamin routine or the chocolate factory routine or any of the silly things.’
Lucie stated: ‘It’s the story of Lucille Ball, my actual mother, not Lucy Ricardo, and her husband Desi Arnaz, my dad, not Ricky Ricardo. There will be humor in the film but it is a story of the two of them, and how they met, and what went right with finding the show, what went wrong – their relationship, their love affair.’
Uncanny: On Will And Grace Debra Messing got all dressed up as Lucille’s sitcom character Lucy Ricardo to recreate some of her bits, including her ad for Vitameatavegamin
Baby mine: Lucy and Desi are pictured in 1952, the year after their iconic sitcom began, helping little Lucie celebrate her first birthday
She concluded her message by encouraging the fans to ‘Just trust us. It’s gonna be a nice film. And P.S. the voting is over. I love all of you.’
Aaron Sorkin is writing and directing the upcoming biopic Being The Ricardos for Amazon after his streaming success with The Trial Of The Chicago 7 for Netflix.
Desi, who played Lucy’s bandleader husband Ricky Ricardo on their program, had a tumultuous marriage to her in real life.
Family photo: Lucille first filed for divorce from Desi in 1944 but they reconciled and then had their two children before the couple split up permanently in 1960
She filed for divorce for the first time in 1944, reportedly over his philandering and drinking, but they got back together before splitting up permanently in 1960.
In the meantime they produced two children and the sitcom that etched them into TV legend, running from 1951 to 1957.
They also starred in movies together throughout their marriage, including Forever, Darling and the Vincente Minnelli comedy The Long, Long Trailer.
Despite their divorce, in which she called their marriage ‘a nightmare,’ Lucy and Desi remained publicly amicable for the rest of his life.
Blended family: Lucy married Borscht Belt comic Gary Morton in 1961 and stayed with him until her death in 1989; the couple are pictured with Lucie and Desi Jr. in 1965
Remember when: Aaron Sorkin’s new biopic is about a single week spent making an episode of I Love Lucy; Lucille and Desi are pictured on the iconic sitcom which ran from 1951 to 1957
Lucy married Borscht Belt comic Gary Morton in 1961 and stayed with him until her death in 1989, while Desi married one Edith Hirsch in 1963.
Edith and Desi both died of cancer one year apart – she passed on in 1985 and her husband, who loved cigars from his native Cuba, succumbed to lung cancer in 1986.
Aaron Sorkin’s new biopic is about a single week spent making an episode of I Love Lucy during which Lucy and Desi’s marriage is shaken.
The turbulent week, reportedly running from the table read to the taping in front of a studio audience, is said to include a professional landmine for the couple as well.
Hunk: While Nicole is said to be the pick for Lucy, Javier Bardem (pictured) is in talks for the role of her husband and co-star Desi Arnaz, Deadline reported last week
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