Aaron Sorkin's Lucille Ball Biopic (Kidman)

[terry78]

Though too much in either direction can take you out of the film.

 

[Sawyer]

I honestly don't think actors in biopics need to look that much like who they're portraying. Like Johnny Cash does not look like Joaquin Phoniex.

Well and also... Messing doesn’t look that much like Lucy. She’s just a redhead that does comedy.

 

[Kane52630]

Aaron Sorkin or not, I think this is just a bad idea all around.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

Aaron Sorkin or not, I think this is just a bad idea all around.

Just curious, why you say that?

 

[The Shape]

Lucille Ball is an icon and her life was fascinating. I think she is deserving of a biopic like this.

 

[Kane52630]

Just curious, why you say that?

That show, Lucille Ball, and Desi Arnaz are such an icon to television (and has been parodied countless times throughout the decades) that any serious movie will come off as a parody and the casting they got doesn't help where they both look off. But that's just me.

At best you got Aaron Sorkin writing it, so at least there's that. Hopefully i'm proven wrong.

 

[DarkKnight88]

A parody!

 

[Kane52630]

 

[Albright]

Aaron Sorkin was better, when he only wrote the script (SN, Moneyball, Jobs). Mollys Game and Trial of the Chicago Seven didn’t impress me much

 

[Kane52630]

That's the other thing, having him write and direct might be an issue, I thought Mollys Game was convoluted as hell and while I enjoyed Chicago Seven, it got a bit too sentimental at times and felt like a traditional Oscar bait film.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

That show, Lucille Ball, and Desi Arnaz are such an icon to television (and has been parodied countless times throughout the decades) that any serious movie will come off as a parody and the casting they got doesn't help where they both look off. But that's just me.

At best you got Aaron Sorkin writing it, so at least there's that. Hopefully i'm proven wrong.

I feel you.

Lord knows I love me some Nicole Kidman, but after all that work she has gotten done over the years, I don’t think she could pull off Lucille Ball and all her expressions.

But like you said, we’ll see.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Man, Cate Blanchett would have nailed it. She flawlessly pulled off Katherine Hepburn without it seeming like a parody and that's hard to do.

 

[Pennywise]

Nicole Kidman on Why 'Being the Ricardos' Movie Isn't 'I Love Lucy' - Variety

But in an interview for Variety‘s Actors on Actors TV issue, on newsstands this week, Kidman revealed to Chris Rock that “Being the Ricardos,” the movie that she’s currently filming, will tackle some serious themes. Javier Bardem plays Desi Arnaz in the film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin.

“The strange thing about Lucille Ball is that everyone thinks we’re remaking the ‘I Love Lucy’ show, and it’s so not that,” Kidman says. “It’s about Lucy and Desi and their relationship and their marriage. It’s very deep, actually.”

Kidman then explains some of the ground that the movie will explore. “She was a trailblazer,” Kidman says. “She formed her production company. Desi was Cuban, and she had to fight to get him on the show. They had just so many things in their marriage that are so relevant today, and what she was also dealing with in terms of everything that artists deal with, where you’re up against big corporations. And you’re like, ‘No, this is art.'”

In April, a set photograph of Kidman as Ball went viral online, featuring the actor in a red wig and green dress reminiscent of something Lucy Ricardo would wear.

Kidman tells Rock that she had to work hard to master Ball’s voice. “I’ve had to put in an enormous amount of time on Lucille Ball right now, because she has a very particular way of speaking,” Kidman says.

Rock replies: “Lucille Ball has this thing. She could learn anything in a weekend. So they would, like, write something on the show where she plays the tuba, and she would go, ‘I can’t play the tuba. Give me two days.’ She’s Mount Everest. Just one of the most talented people to ever roam the Earth.”

To which Kidman says: “I am way out of my comfort zone right now, Chris. I’m free falling.”

 

[flickchick85]

I love you Nicole (despite any misgivings I may have about your casting here), but I don't think anyone actually thought you were just remaking I Love Lucy.

 

[Sawyer]

I love you Nicole (despite any misgivings I may have about your casting here), but I don't think anyone actually thought you were just remaking I Love Lucy.

To be fair, the Debra Messing people certainly seem to be giving that vibe.

 

[Pennywise]

Lucille Ball’s Daughter Wanted Aaron Sorkin to Remove Inaccurate ‘Being the Ricardos’ Scenes

There are certain scenes that I wished hadn’t been in the feature film. I couldn’t get my way and have them taken out, but they weren’t accurate,” Lucie Arnaz said. “And I thought, ‘That shouldn’t be in there, because that never happened. That’s not true.’ And it’s not just theatrical license, it just wasn’t true. And the day they shot the scene, the sprinklers went off on the set and destroyed the whole set.”

According to Arnaz, “Being the Ricardos” takes place “primarily during rehearsals” for the filming of an “I Love Lucy” episode. “There are a few scenes where they’re at their house in Chatsworth, before working, after working,” she said. “There are two or three short flashback scenes to her life before ‘I Love Lucy,’ when she worked on the radio show, when she was trying to convince the network to hire dad.”


“But stuff happens that week that didn’t happen altogether the way Aaron has written it,” Arnaz continued. “He’s taking some theatrical license and sort of cramming a couple of true events that did happen, they just didn’t happen at the same time. But you do learn a lot about what it was like back then. His dialogue is always incredible. And I think he treated my mother and my father really well. I think they are accurate composites of these people. And what I’ve seen of it…I haven’t seen any of the rushes, but I was on the set for just two days. What I saw was extraordinarily classy and first rate. The people that he has cast are just really great performers.”

Arnaz was one of the first people to defend Sorkin’s casting of Kidman as Lucille Ball. Many “I Love Lucy” fans felt Kidman did not look the part, but Arnaz told Palm Springs Life that “Nicole did a spectacular job. The two days that I watched, though, were both little flashbacks, so she was playing Lucy in the late ’30s and mid-’40s. She wasn’t Lucy of Lucy Ricardo fame yet, so it was a trifle different. And I know she meant it to be, so it could feel different. But boy, what she did was astounding. She’s got such poise and class.”

 

[Sawyer]

 

[NotNickFury]

First trailer:

 

[DarkKnight88]

That felt fast! Lol

 

[scarlet-witch]

I think this is just going to depend on how familiar you are with Lucy. Steve Jobs is a great example of actors not really looking like who they are portraying, but still giving a good performance in a compelling film. I *hope* that's what happens here, but Nicole sounds absolutely nothing like Lucy to me. It's just another Kidman wig film.

 

[DarkKnight88]

True about the voices. Her and Bardem. Neither did much with it at all lol. I thought for sure Bardem would go higher with his.

 

[Lily Adler]

First trailer:

Nicole seems to be actually trying. Bardem is just using his regular voice is strange to me.

 

[Broseph44]

Me after watching the trailer

 

[Lily Adler]

Nicole actually sounds more like an older Lucille Ball when her voice was more huskier.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

I’ll give Nicole props for trying, she does sound like Older Lucille after a cavalcade of cigarettes and has her attitude. It’s going to be all in the facial expressions for me though.

That is, if she can do them.