'Being The Ricardos': Nicole Kidman And Javier Bardem Will Play Lucille Ball And Desi Arnaz For Director Aaron Sorkin

Aaron Sorkin already has his first post-Trial of the Chicago 7 film lined-up: Being the Ricardos. The film will tell the story of husband and wife Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, who played Lucy and Ricky Ricardo on I Love Lucy. Nicole Kidman is set to play Ball while Javier Bardem will play Arnaz, with Sorkin writing and directing the project for Amazon Studios. At one point, Cate Blanchett was circling the project to play Lucille Ball.

Deadline has the scoop on Being the Ricardos, which will star Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball and Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz, with Aaron Sorkin writing and directing. The film is "set during one production week of I Love Lucy — Monday table read through Friday audience filming — when Lucy and Desi face a crisis that could end their careers and another that could end their marriage." This framework sounds somewhat similar to Sorkin's script for Steve Jobs, which took place during three different, distinct days in Jobs' life.

Ball and Arnaz were married in 1940 and went on to create I Love Lucy in 1951. The couple starred in the show as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, and while the Ricardos were presented as having a sitcom-worthy marriage, the real-life story of Ball and Arnaz was anything but. Ball filed for divorce from Arnaz first in 1944, but the pair reconciled. However, Ball later filed for divorce again in 1960, with Ball claiming their marriage was a "nightmare." Ball and Arnaz also founded Desilu Productions, which produced shows like Mission: Impossible and Star Trek in addition to I Love Lucy. The creation of Desilu made Ball the first woman to run a major television studio.

This project has been knocking around for a while. At one point, Sorkin was merely going to write, with Cate Blanchett intending to play Ball. And if I'm being honest, that sounds like a much better idea. Don't get me wrong – Nicole Kidman is a great performer, but Blanchett feels like a much better fit for the role. On top of that, while I enjoy Sorkin's writing, I find him to be a painfully boring filmmaker. In other words, I'd like to see the alternate version of this where Sorkin only tackles the script and Blanchett stars.

Deadline adds that the deals for both Kidman and Bardem aren't done yet, but even when they get everything worked out, there's no word on when production might start.