Nicole Kidman, Lucille Ball trailer drops and the likeness is uncanny
Amazon Studios has released a trailer for Aaron Sorkin’s “Being the Ricardos,” starring Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem.
The film follows pioneering Hollywood husband and wife couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, played by Kidman and Bardem, during a production week on the set of I Love Lucy.
The plot shows the challenges the couple endure both in their careers and their marriage. Ball was the star and producer of sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show, Here’s Lucy, and Life with Lucy, as well as comedy television specials aired under the title The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.
In the trailer, the recreation of Ball’s iconic grape stomping scene takes center stage. If Kidman’s voiceover lacks the brashness of Ball’s actual voice, her physical resemblance to the TV pioneer is uncanny.
In Kidman’s recent Variety Actors on Actors conversation with Chris Rock, she said, “The strange thing about Lucille Ball is that everyone thinks we’re remaking the ‘I Love Lucy’ show, and it’s so not that. It’s about Lucy and Desi and their relationship and their marriage. It’s very deep, actually.”
Being the Ricardos also navigates the racial barriers that the couple had to face, with Desi being discriminated against for being Latin American – Cuban – and Ball having to fight to keep him in the show.
The film is set to be released in December.
