(Los Angeles) Most of the time, the arrival of a world star like Nicole Kidman is a blessing for a movie, but when the producers of Being the Ricardos revealed that she was going to play the famous American comedian Lucille Ball, the critics were unleashed.
The outraged worshipers ofI love lucy, sitcom among the most popular in the United States, have accused the Australian actress of sacrilege so violently that Lucille Ball’s own daughter, Lucie Arnaz, had to implore them to calm down in a video posted on the internet.
“’She doesn’t look like her’, ‘her nose isn’t the same’, ‘she’s not that funny’… Trust us. It’s going to be a nice movie, ”she said then.
Nicole Kidman and director Aaron Sorkin weren’t let down by this hail of criticism and Lucille Ball fans will soon be able to judge on paper: the film, presented Monday in Los Angeles, is released in US theaters Friday and on the Amazon platform. Premium at the end of December.
PHOTO MARIO ANZUONI, REUTERS
Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman play Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball respectively.
The sitcom 1950s followed the extravagant adventures of the husband Ricardo, a young couple from New York, with audiences reaching up to sixty million viewers.
Being the Ricardos takes place mainly behind the scenes of this series, during a week in 1952 during which Lucille Ball is publicly accused of being a Communist in the middle of McCarthyism’s “witch hunt”.
It is Javier Bardem who plays Desi Arnaz, actor of Cuban origin who was the husband of Lucille Ball in the sitcom as in the city.
The choice of the Spanish 50-year-old to camp Arnaz, who was only 35 years old in 1952, made spit a little more venom to the unconditional grumpers ofI love lucy.
It was because the irreverent director Aaron Sorkin cared little about creating an identical replica of the sitcom. “Making a carbon copy just didn’t interest her, and it’s daring,” Nicole Kidman said at a press screening.
“It was scary, but incredibly stimulating,” says the Australian.
“Queen of TV”
PHOTO VALÉRIE MACON, FRANCE-PRESS AGENCY
From left to right, we find director Aaron Sorkin, actress Nicole Kidman, Amazon studio director Jen Salke and actor Javier Bardem.
Died in 1989, Lucille Ball was enthroned on the American small screen for three decades, which earned her the nickname “Queen of TV”. After I love lucy, which aired from 1951 to 1957, she starred in a series of shows featuring her character Lucy and appeared in over 70 films.
Being the Ricardos highlights her role as a pioneer for women on television, for example when she takes charge of the scenes on the set.
Even though the film focuses on Lucille Ball and the other people behind the sitcom, Nicole Kidman sometimes has to recreate key moments from the series, such as when she is treading grapes in an Italian vineyard.
“I was obsessed with being completely exact,” Aaron Sorkin, “was obsessed with showing human beings,” sums up the actress.
“I insisted to everyone that I didn’t want an impersonation…“ Play the characters as they are in the script. You are quite capable of it ”, remembers the director.
Aaron Sorkin wanted more than anything to prevent Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem “from being afraid of the weight of an imitation”. “An imitation is much lower than what we have done,” he says.