Lucille Ball’s daughter told Aaron Sorkin to “take the gloves off” in his biopic about her famous mother, saying she “wasn’t an easy woman.”
The Oscar-winning director, whose film about Ball hits cinemas next month, made the revelation during an interview with the Hollywood Reporter last week.
Sorkin said he had lunch with Ball’s children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr., before he began shooting the highly-anticipated biopic “Being the Ricardos.”
“We all had lunch together, and she [Lucie] said to me, ‘I know my mother wasn’t an easy woman. Take the gloves off.’ In other words, you can go for it,” Sorkin stated.
“Being the Ricardos” revolves around a production week on “I Love Lucy” — the iconic 1950s sitcom which starred Ball and her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz.
In the flick, Nicole Kidman plays Ball, while Javier Bardem plays Arnaz.
The real-life couple had a tumultuous off-screen relationship, which culminated in their divorce in 1960. Arnaz passed away in 1986. Ball died in 1989.
Lucie, told Closer Weekly in 2018: “They were fighting all the time. Their divorce was horrible. And then there was the alcoholism. I had preferred those things had never been there. We didn’t have any abuse, but we did go through some pretty hard stuff and that’s why my parents didn’t stay together.”
Lucie, 70, says she’s impressed with “Being the Ricardos,” taking to Instagram to reveal she recently saw a screening of the biopic.
“It’s frickin’ amazing!” she declared. “Sorkin captured an essence of that time in my parents’ lives so well. He captured the heart of my mother, my father, their relationship.”
She also praised Kidman’s performance, saying: “She became my mother’s soul. She crawled into her head. She cared very deeply about this part, and it shows.”
Some critics took issue with Kidman being cast as Ball, saying Debra Messing would have been a better choice.
But the Oscar-winning Aussie, 54, is garnering rave reviews for the role.
“Kidman embodies the essence of Lucille Ball, especially in her mannerisms during the rehearsals and filming of episodes,” Variety editor Clayton Davis wrote after watching a preview screening. “She very well may break your heart, demanding the viewer’s sympathy and a best actress nomination may seem almost certainly in the cards for her.”
Collider’s Perri Nemiroff concurred, stating: “‘Being the Ricardos’ left me in a puddle of tears. What a beautiful and deeply moving behind-the-scenes look at the pressures and complexities involved in making that show – highs, lows and everything in between. Nicole Kidman is INCREDIBLE.”
Earlier this week, TCM host Dave Karger wrote: “Last night’s first big screening of ‘Being the Ricardos’ definitely silenced the skeptics. A 5th Oscar nomination for Nicole Kidman seems especially likely.”
