Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem on Being the Ricardos and How They Prepare for a Big Scene
47With writer-director Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos now playing in select theaters and streaming on Prime Video, I recently got to speak with Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem about playing Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. During the interview, they both talked about why this was such a challenging shoot, if they were nervous to play these roles, how they each like to prepare for a challenging or emotional scene, how Bardem chased the role, and more. In addition, Kidman talks about how this was the hardest role she’s ever had in her career.
If you haven’t seen the trailers, Being the Ricardos dramatizes an intense week for Lucille and Desi as they enter production on an episode of their hit sitcom I Love Lucy in 1952 — from the table read to the taping — while off-screen drama threatens to engulf their personal lives. While the drama that happens in the movie is true, it didn’t all happen in the same week. Sorkin has previously explained how he came to this storyline:
"The only thing better than a story people don't know is a story that people think they know but they're wrong. The producer Todd Black spent over a year having meetings with me to tell me stories about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz that I'd never heard. For instance, that Lucy was accused of being a Communist. There were plenty of points of friction, and that's what I look for when I want to tell a story. I had this structural idea that appealed to me. I like claustrophobic spaces; I like claustrophobic segments of time. So I thought if I could tell the story during one production week of I Love Lucy — Monday table read through Friday audience taping — and tell it mostly on that soundstage, that there might be something good there. So I tried writing it."
Being the Ricardos also stars Nina Arianda as Vivian Vance, J.K. Simmons as William Frawley, Alia Shawkat, Jake Lacy, Clarke Gregg, Nelson Franklin, John Rubinstein, Linda Lavin, Robert Pine, and Christopher Denham.
Watch what Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem had to say in the player above and exactly what we talked about is listed below. Look for more Being the Ricardos this week.
Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem
Were either of them nervous to play these roles and did that drive them to want to do it?
How Bardem chased the role.
How do they like to prepare for a big scene that they know will challenge them?
How every day of filming was a challenge.
Kidman on how this role was the hardest job she’s ever had.
#NicoleKidman #JavierBardem #BeingtheRicardos
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