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. In fact, well before Kidman was attached and before Aaron Sorkin was brought on to write and direct, there was another A-lister signed to take on the lead role in the film—Cate Blanchett.
In a new profile in The New York Times, the situation involving Cate Blanchett and “Being the Ricardos” is detailed. As the story goes, Blanchett was attached to play Ball in the film, but the actress left the project due to “scheduling conflicts.” And according to one of the film’s producers, Lucie Arnaz (daughter of Ball and Arnaz), that took the winds out of their sails.
“It just took too long and we lost her,” Lucie Arnaz said. “I was devastated.”
And after Blanchett’s departure, Arnaz lost interest in the list of actresses being mentioned for the role. That is, until Nicole Kidman was brought up.
“I thought that’s good — we should only be looking at Australian actresses for this,” Arnaz joked.
For Kidman, the idea of replacing Blanchett in the film was far from a hindrance.
“I feel like there’s a sacred pact among us all — whoever gets something, that’s where it was meant to land,” she explained.
Of course, as she’s discussed before, Kidman is aware of the backlash against her for being chosen to play Lucille Ball in the film. And even though she’s not someone who is out there trying to follow all of the news, the backlash was so loud, she couldn’t avoid it.
“I’m not on the internet and I definitely don’t Google myself,” Kidman said. “But things trickle through.”
As we know, the backlash didn’t deter her, and after speaking to the film’s producers, as well as filmmaker Aaron Sorkin, Kidman felt comfortable taking on the challenging role. And though the film isn’t likely to nab a ton of Oscar nominations in 2022, it’s expected that Kidman is a strong contender for at least a Best Actress nomination. So, it seemed to all work out well in the end.
“Being the Ricardos” is available now on Amazon Prime Video.