Ethel Steps Out of Lucy’s Shadow Thanks to Nina Arianda in ‘Being the Ricardos’

Javier Bardem is having a busy 12 months. Not only has he already shot a live-action version of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” but his Spanish dramedy “The Good Boss” made the shortlist for the Academy Award for International Film (selected over Pedro Almodovar’s critically acclaimed “Parallel Mothers” starring his wife, Penelope Cruz, no less).

When the discussion about “Being the Ricardos” is brought up, most people talk about the casting controversy surrounding Aaron Sorkin’s picks to play Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem, respectively. A lot has already been made about the Bardem/Arnaz situation, but apparently, there’s a bit more to the Kidman situation than just fans being upset over her being chosen.

Ever since Todd Black got into the film business as a producer, he wanted to work with Aaron Sorkin.

Marlo Thomas Guest ColumnistFor Variety‘s Writers on Writers, Marlo Thomas pens a tribute to “Being the Ricardos” (screenplay by Aaron Sorkin). There is a wonderful scene in “Being the Ricardos” — Aaron Sorkin’s wrenching chronicle of the pioneering TV comedy series “I Love Lucy” — in which Lucy drags two of her co-stars to the studio at 2 a.m., during a thunderstorm, to re-block a comic moment in a dinner scene that hadn’t gone well in rehearsal.

Academy Award-winning actor Javier Bardem experienced a reawakening while becoming intimately acquainted with Desi Arnaz, the I Love Lucy star who Bardem brings to life in Amazon’s Being the Ricardos. And it all happened while the past and present collided during multiple musical numbers including “Babalu” and “Cuban Pete,” and while listening to private audio recordings shared by Lucy and Desi’s daughter, Lucie Arnaz.

While the film doesn’t seem to have the awards season legs that Amazon hoped it would, “Being the Ricardos” is still gaining a lot of attention, particularly for the lead roles played by Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem. However, those casting choices also came with a fair amount of controversy, particularly with choosing the Spanish Bardem to play real-life Cuban actor Desi Arnaz.

Nicole Kidman stars as Lucille Ball in the upcoming Being The Ricardos opposite Javier Bardem.

Javier Bardem is not having it! The actor is defending his role as Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos. In a recent cover story for The Hollywood Reporter, the 52-year-old actor and his costar Nicole Kidman opened up about people’s reaction after they were cast to portray iconic I Love Lucy’s Arnaz and Lucille Ball.The Oscar winner told the publication that playing the Cuban-American star or other characters is the whole point of his job.

For Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman, the pressure of taking on one of the most iconic sitcoms of all time came with a lot of pressure.

Golden Globes. Belfast and The Power of the Dog lead the pack with seven nominations each.

endorsed the film, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, in an Instagram post. The film follows one week of production on an episode of “I Love Lucy” and the chaos that surrounds both the show and Lucy and Desi’s lives.

Aaron Sorkin and starring Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball and Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz, is set during one week of production as the couple films an episode of. The season 1 episode, “Fred and Ethel Fight,” is just one of three episodes partially recreated onscreen, while the film refers to two other key moments from the series as it jumps back and forth through time to show the couple dealing with major developments in their lives.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorTurning Nicole Kidman into Lucille Ball and Javier Bardem into Desi Arnaz in “Being the Ricardos” wasn’t only about creating a facsimile of the iconic 1950s TV duo.Rather, director Aaron Sorkin instructed hair department head Teressa Hill and makeup department head Ana Lozano, “We are not taking a photograph; we are painting a picture.” The approach is generating awards buzz for the below-the-line duo.The film, opening Dec.

the kvetching and moronic social media backlash about Nicole Kidman being cast as Lucille Ball in the new movie “Being the Ricardos.” You were wrong, guys. The actress is sensational in the part — and is doing the finest work of her career.She nails the off-camera Lucy in her prime: the acidic tongue, her dream of a normal suburban home life, disdain for mediocrity and especially the unparalleled power she wielded as a woman in showbiz in the 1950s.

“It was a scary goddamn week,” explains a trio of “I Love Lucy” showrunners in a fictional present-day documentary. Aaron Sorkin’s snappy, slick, crowd-pleasing biopic, “Being the Ricardos,” through unfailing comedic precision yet uneven dramatic tension, recounts those terrifying seven days during October 1953, when news broke of Lucille Ball being a member of the Communist Party.

That movie sounds great, and Sorkin understands that trajectory, but his compulsion is telling you his intentions — like in the fake “this is what happened” interviews — rather than show us with compelling scene dynamics, or to let them arise naturally in a honed narrative. He even devises a wonderfully bittersweet metaphor in the Ricardos’ soundstage “home” as the only place where Ball and Arnaz truly got each other; at work, they had something they knew how to protect in each other.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticContrary to popular belief, not every piece of drama with Aaron Sorkin’s name on it has the inimitably timed, exquisitely percussive sound of I-top-you-no-I top-you combative patter known as Sorkinese. “The American President,” in its way, had a sweet flow to it.