When it was announced that Aaron Sorkin had cast Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem for “Being the Ricardos,” as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, respectively, folks were surprised. Some were shocked at the caliber of star Sorkin was bringing in for his biopic, but others were upset, specifically with the notion of Bardem as Arnaz. Well, in a new interview with THR, Sorkin talks about the controversy and defends his casting decisions.
Speaking to THR, Sorkin was asked about the outrage that came about when Bardem was announced as playing Desi Arnaz in “Being the Ricardos.” For those unaware, Arnaz was a Cuban man and Bardem is of Spanish descent. In the Latinx community, many believe that a Spanish person is not remotely close to the same as a Cuban person when it comes to casting. But Sorkin doesn’t see it that way.
“First of all, Amazon’s casting department had a Latina casting consultant [who was focused on all Latinx casting] on board,” explained Sorkin. “I found out, for instance, because there was an actor who I was considering who’s Brazilian, and I was told by the casting consultant that Brazilians aren’t considered [Hispanic] because they speak Portuguese. So, Javier is Spanish and the casting consultant was fine with it. But I don’t want to use the casting consultant as cover. I want to tell you my opinion on this and I stand by it, which is this: Spanish and Cuban aren’t actable, OK? They’re not actable. By the way, neither are straight and gay. Because I know there’s a small movement underway that only gay actors should play gay characters. Gay and straight aren’t actable. You could act being attracted to someone, but most nouns aren’t actable.”
He continued, “We know when we’re being demeaning. We know that blackface is demeaning because of its historical context, because you’re making ridiculous cartoon caricatures out of people. We know that Mickey Rooney with the silly piece in ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ and that makeup, doing silly Japanese speak, we know that’s demeaning. This is not, I felt. Having an actor who was born in Spain playing a character who was born in Cuba was not demeaning. And it wasn’t just the casting consultant who agreed, Lucy and Desi’s Cuban American daughter didn’t have a problem with it. So, I’m very comfortable with it.”
I think most people would agree that Bardem’s casting isn’t on the same level as Rooney playing an offensive version of an Asian person. However, it is real that there are folks that don’t agree with the casting. Ultimately, it appears Sorkin feels as if he’s done his due diligence and made the movie he’s wanted to make.
“Being the Ricardos” debuts in limited release on December 10 before hitting Amazon Prime Video on December 21.
