● Film
Ensembles
NICOLE KIDMAN AND JAVIER BARDEM
AT THE HEIGHT OF LUCILLE BALL’S REcord-setting “I Love Lucy” success, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s communist witch hunt came knocking. As the story goes, the House Un-American Activities Committee discovered that she’d registered to vote as a Communist in 1936. The actor claimed she’d never identified with the party and that the move had only been a means of appealing to her aged grandfather. But as the Red Scare tore through Hollywood, such actions had the potential to ruin careers and reputations—even those as sterling as Ball’s. To make matters worse, her marriage to Desi Arnaz was on the rocks due to his alleged infidelity. What’s a media mogul to do when finding herself at such a tricky crossroads? In “Being the Ricardos,” Aaron Sorkin takes a stab at the answer. The trailblazing TV comedy duo’s relationship during a landmark week of both public and private accusations is fertile ground for the emotional storytelling the writer-director excels at. An Oscar-winning pair of movie stars,
Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem, rise to the occasion as Ball and Arnaz. To see Kidman recreate classic sitcom bits while done up in Ball’s iconic “I Love Lucy” makeup and costumes is to witness one of the most impressive biopic illusions since Renée Zellweger’s beloved turn as Judy Garland. Little is known about the true nature of Ball’s closed-door conversations with Arnaz and studio executives; but Kidman, aided by Sorkin’s bulletproof dialogue, brings life to a performer on the brink. Ball was a powerful woman decades ahead of her time, and you can see the care and responsibility Kidman brings to telling her story. Her performance is characteristically excellent. Bardem, meanwhile, is as charismatic and suave as you’d expect; he’s perhaps at his most charming since “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” He taps into Arnaz’s trademark lightness and showmanship; it’s a playful contrast to the brooding roles he’s best known for. He does have the chance to bring that darkness to the
Arianda, Javier Bardem, Tony Hale, Nicole Kidman, Jake Lacy, Alia Shawkat, J.K. Simmons Sorkin WRITTEN BY: Aaron Sorkin DISTRIBUTED BY: Amazon Studios
table, though. Unafraid to ask sharp questions about its male hero, this script sees Bardem countering his Hollywood sheen with spikier motivations than one might expect. There’s real dramatic depth shown here in Arnaz’s commitment to protecting Ball—and his show. The ensemble is rounded out by some of today’s finest character actors, putting their spin on real-world figures. J.K. Simmons, no stranger to playing a gruff but well-intentioned supporting role, works wizened, drunken magic as William Frawley, the actor behind “I Love Lucy” supporting player Fred Mertz; Tony Award winner Nina Arianda appears opposite him as the scene-stealing Vivian Vance, who plays Lucy’s onscreen confidant, Ethel Mertz. Elsewhere around the writers’ room table sit Jake Lacy as Bob Carroll Jr., Alia Shawkat as Madelyn Pugh, and Tony Hale as Jess Oppenheimer. They all perfectly encapsulate colleagues who are equal parts seduced, intimidated, and frustrated by their ingenious leading lady. No one breaks out of Ball’s orbit. —BENJAMIN LINDSAY
CASTING BY: Kathy
Driscoll and Francine Maisler
DIRECTED BY: Aaron
BACKSTAGE 12.20.21
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backstage.com
GLEN WILSON
MAIN CAST: Nina
FIRSTNAME/LASTNAME
“Being the Ricardos”
