There’s been plenty of apprehension around Nicole Kidman’s role as Lucille Ball in the new movie about the comedy legend’s life. And now, Ball’s daughter Lucie Arnaz has revealed she’s seen snippets of Kidman’s performance and is incredibly impressed.
In January it was announced that Kidman was in line to play Ball in the new movie Being the Ricardos, with No Country for Old Men and Skyfall star Javier Bardem set to play the comedian’s husband Desi Arnaz. The movie follows the highs and lows of the couple’s relationship and is set during one production week of I Love Lucy.
Fans were outraged by Kidman’s casting, with many calling for Will and Grace star Debra Messing to get the role instead. However, eight months later the first reviews of the movie are in – and Kidman has received a rave.
Ball and Arnaz’s daughter told Palm Springs Life that she visited the film’s set for two days and was blown away by what she saw. She said Kidman did a “spectacular” job and that the scenes she saw were “extremely classy and first rate”.
“Nicole did a spectacular job. The two days that I watched, though, were both little flashbacks, so she was playing Lucy in the late ’30s and mid-’40s. She wasn’t Lucy of Lucy Ricardo fame yet, so it was a trifle different,” Arnaz said.
She added: “And I know she meant it to be, so it could feel different. But boy, what she did was astounding. She’s got such poise and class.”
But while she was full of praise for the actors, Arnaz told the publication there were storylines that she wished writer and director Aaron Sorkin had left out.
“I couldn’t get my way and have them taken out, but they weren’t accurate. And I thought, ‘That shouldn’t be in there, because that never happened. That’s not true’,” she said, without providing specifics.
“And it’s not just theatrical license, it just wasn’t true,” Arnaz continued. “And the day they shot the scene, the sprinklers went off on the set and destroyed the whole set.”
Fans got their first look at Kidman and Bardem in character in April, with photos taken on set showing the Aussie actress with her hair curled and pinned in Ball’s trademark style.
Meanwhile, Bardem was spotted in two tuxedos – one with a slick white jacket and another in vibrant green. The pair were filming scenes in Los Angeles.
The film is yet to get a release date, but with all the hype it’s receiving, critics are already betting it’ll stamped as an awards show favourite and possibly another opportunity for Kidman to nab an Academy Award.