Despite harsh criticism, Nicole Kidman gives life to the remembered Lucille Ball in ‘Being the Ricardos’

Nicole Kidman has conquered audiences around the world, but for fans of the actress Lucille Ball, the Australian was not up to the task to headline the tape Being the Ricardos, which revolves around the legendary American comedian and co-stars the Spanish Javier Bardem.

The followers of I love lucy attacked Kidman’s election with such force that Kidman’s own daughter Lucille Ball she felt compelled to beg for a breath.

“’It doesn’t look like her’; ‘His nose is not the same’; ‘It’s not as funny’; blah blah blah blah, ”Lucie Arnaz wrote in January. Trust us. It will be a good movie ”.

Kidman and the director Aaron Sorkin, both Oscar winners, stood firm in the production and audiences will now have their say when the film, which opened in Los Angeles on Monday, hits theaters in the United States this Friday.

The original series I love lucy focused on the extravagances of the Ricardo, a young couple living in New York, and reached 60 million viewers at its peak.

Being the Ricardos It is a kind of behind-the-scenes of a week in the production of the series in 1952, during which Ball, the star of the program, was publicly accused of being a communist in the heat of the witch hunt of McCarthyism.

Javier Bardem plays Cuban Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball’s husband in real life and on the hit series.

The choice of Bardem, a 52-year-old Spaniard, to play Arnaz, who was only 35 years old in 1952, also sparked controversy among staunch followers of I love lucy. But Sorkin explained to his actors that he had no interest in replicating the series.

“He wasn’t interested in a carbon copy of the characters, and that’s daring.”Kidman said in a recent interview.

“I doubted immensely a month before, and Aaron had to talk to me on the phone and send me emails saying ‘you can’, it was scary but incredibly exciting”, said the actress.

Ball, who passed away in 1989, was a constant figure on American television for nearly three decades.

I love lucy aired from 1951 to 1957. Later the actress starred Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show and Here is lucy, and appeared in more than 70 movies.

The film focuses on her pioneering work as a successful woman in charge of set decisions, and the impressive influence Desi Arnaz had on executives and patrons, despite her previous status as a Cuban percussionist.

As the week progresses, tensions also appear in the couple’s often stormy marriage.

Although it focuses on behind the scenes of the protagonists, Kidman recreates some of the great moments of the screen, including the famous scene in which Lucy walks on grapes in an Italian vineyard.

“I was obsessed with achieving an absolutely accurate performance”Kidman stressed. “It was his obsession [la de Sorkin] represent human beings ”.

I love lucy it is still a popular series in America. Kidman and Bardem already admitted that “she was not very famous” during her childhoods in Australia and Spain.

But Lucie Arnaz, the couple’s daughter, was a constant and “fantastic” presence on set, Kidman said. Sorkin and her cast were “recipients” of her advice on how to impersonate her parents.

“I emphasized to each one that I was not looking for an impersonation of those characters. ‘Play the characters in the script. They are fully equipped to do so. ‘”Sorkin recalled.

“I did not want them to go crazy, to feel the burden that an embodiment is. That was less than what we were doing ”.

Besides the cinemas, Being the Ricardos will also be available in Amazon Prime starting December 21. (I)