Lucille Ball’s daughter defends Nicole Kidman’s casting as her mother

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

When it was revealed last week that Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem were in talks to play Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in Aaron Sorkin's Being the Ricardos, there was a bit of an outcry from those who felt that Kidman was wrong for the part. In a video posted on Facebook, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's daughter, Lucie Arnaz, spoke out in defense of Nicole Kidman.

It's a done deal, but the contracts aren't actually signed, which is why I haven't said anything publicly about it, but i felt I should at least try to calm the waters here. There seems to be a lot of discussion about Nicole Kidman [and people saying] it should be Debra Messing…. I don't know, but here's the deal and what you should understand: We're not doing a remake of I Love Lucy. No one has to impersonate Lucy Ricardo nor do any of the silly things. It's the story of Lucille Ball, my actual mother — not Lucy Ricardo — and her husband, Desi Arnaz, my dad — not Ricky Ricardo.

Lucie Arnaz said that although "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 and what went wrong, their relationship, their love affair." Arnaz added that Being the Ricardos will have I Love Lucy in it as the project is slated to take place over the course of one production week of I Love Lucy, but that very little of the actual show will be in the movie. "I don't think you'll be disappointed with that however," Arnaz added. "Aaron has done a wonderful job with bringing these characters to life, and it's just a little… slice of life in their journey. It's not the whole story, it's not a biopic from cradle to grave it's a two hour feature-film about these two people and some of the remarkable things they lived through." Aaron Sorkin will direct from a script he wrote himself, naturally, but it's not clear when shooting would begin as COVID-19 is still delaying productions across the globe.

Aaron Sorkin's last directorial outing, The Trial of the Chicago 7, debuted on Netflix last fall, and you can check out a review from our own Chris Bumbray right here.