Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem as Lucy and Desi?- Page 3

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 1/14/21 at 8:15am

“Didn’t last long” - the show was originally created as a limited miniseries (one season) because the whole thing was an adaptation of a single book.

It wasn’t until the show was a hit (with both audiences and critics, since it was nominated for six Golden Globes, and eight Emmy Awards...) that HBO renewed it for another season and asked the book’s author to write beyond what was in the first season/book.

HBO has been clear that the reason for the long break in between the second and third seasons (Kidman confirmed a few months ago that there WILL be another season) was due to the leading cast’s scheduling, since they all were doing several projects at the same time.

Three seasons, critics/audience/ratings hit, accolades across the board...this show is not a flop. You should probably sit this one out.

Anyways, back to the Ricardos.

Updated On: 1/14/21 at 08:15 AM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/14/21 at 8:46am

BIG LITTLE LIES so far had only 2 Seasons. As mentioned, the cast and HBO would love a Season 3 but the scheduling of the actresses complicates things. Both Kidman and Witherspoon had to pull out of projects in order to take part in Season 2.

And yes... BIG LITTLE LIES was originally intended as a limited series. The enormous success and numerous awards the series garnered prompted a Season 2. Season 3 is on the burner so it’s just a matter of time. The series is one of HBO’s biggest hits.

[MysteriousLady]

Posted: 1/14/21 at 8:47am

joevitus said: "poisonivy2 said: "joevitus said: "The two shows can probably be counted as flops and Moulin Rouge did okay at the box office, but was not a massive hit. You've listed a tiny portion of her filmographyin comparison to the number of movies she's made, and she's been in more stinkers than any other big name I can think of.

I thought she was good in The Hours, which I thought was a pretty good movie in general. But to call her track record "spotty" isn't even the half of it."

I'm sorry how was Big Little Lies a flop? It won a bunch of awards, became water cooler talk for the issues it brought up about domestic violence, and Nicole Kidman's performance in particular was praised to the skies."

Didn't last long and thus presumably didn't make a lot of money. That's kinda the definition of "flop"--not around very long, and not financially that effective vs. whatever the cost of production. This is a weird topic to obsess over unless one is Kidman's publicist."

Big Little Lies was a miniseries that was so popular that it got an extra season (with Meryl Streep!) that was never planned originally. It earned Kidman an Emmy and she's hotter than ever right now. People are pointing this out because it's weird that you are calling a big zeitgeisty hit a flop. 

Whether this means she has the pull that brody fosse claims, I can't say, but I'd be surprised.

[Claude Perkins]

Posted: 1/14/21 at 10:51am

Sutton Ross said: "Big Little Lies was a flop?

Everyone knows it won every award under the sun and it was ridiculously popular. Even delusional posters know both things are true.

Every Moulin Rouge was a flop?

Ah yes. A flop suddenly means a movie that made 179 million off a 52 million dollar budget (three a half times the budget) is a HUGE FLOP. Like Trump, that sad person lies about things that are debunked in literally three seconds. It's hilarious."

People not in the film business love to quote box office stats even though they usually don't know what they mean. Moulin Rouge may have grossed $179 million at the box office but that figure is ticket sales, not film rental paid to 20th Century Fox.  The reality is that theatres would have kept a healthy chunk of those grosses as their share of ticket sales. Fox would have kept about 55% of that total as their share of film rental, which takes the figure down to $95 million or so, and they would have also been on the hook for prints and advertising which likely added up to at least another $15 million to their costs. So from a box office standpoint, Moulin Rouge was a success but nothing like Sutton Ross proclaims in that simplistic post. To be fair, there was also plenty of money to come to Fox after theatrical release through home video and tv releases.

Updated On: 1/14/21 at 10:51 AM

[ArtMan]

Posted: 1/14/21 at 11:25am

BrodyFosse123 said: "ArtMan said: "I would really watch this if it was about their life and not Lucy and Ricky. They could include scenes of what it really was like during rehearsals. How the four of them reacted to each other. I just can't see Lucie and Desi Jr allowing a warts and all story about their parents."

Don’t know where you get your info but the film IS about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz - not the Ricardos. They are using the setting of a week of production of I LOVE LUCY while showing their faltering relationship amongst a Red Scare that occurred during the run of the series.

And yes, the film will show the good, bad and the ugly. Lucie Arnaz has always been open and frank about her parents - their strength and their faults. She’s mentioned this film will show the real sides of who her parents were as real people - not their iconic TV characters.

I hope your right, because it would make an interesting story.  Especially including all the not so flattering gossip that has been spoken about for years.  I just don't see it happening.  The I Love Lucy show and Lucy and Desi has become such a brand, including color versions of episodes at holiday season, I don't see them risking telling 'the good, bad and the ugly" of their life.

"

 

[ArtMan]

Posted: 1/14/21 at 11:25am

double

 

Updated On: 1/14/21 at 11:25 AM

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 1/14/21 at 11:44am

Well if Lucie Arnaz is involved it's not going to be a tabloid-like tell all. I assume Luci loves her parents and wants them to be seen in a positive light. I think it has potential to be a good film anyway and provide some insight into television production in the 1950s and some of the issues Lucy and Desi faced as portraying a cute perfect marriage on tv while their marriage offscreen was considerably rockier.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 1/14/21 at 12:05pm

People not in the film business love to quote box office stats even though they usually don't know what they mean.

Aw Claude, I know they had many expenses to pay but pointing out it was not a flop was my only goal (since flops make zero dollars). A rando who calls something a flop even though it's not won't grasp anything other than the simplest of terms. Have a good one! 

[joevitus]

Posted: 1/14/21 at 5:34pm

ArtMan said: "BrodyFosse123 said: "ArtMan said: "I would really watch this if it was about their life and not Lucy and Ricky. They could include scenes of what it really was like during rehearsals. How the four of them reacted to each other. I just can't see Lucie and Desi Jr allowing a warts and all story about their parents."

Don’t know where you get your info but the film IS about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz - not the Ricardos. They are using the setting of a week of production of I LOVE LUCY while showing their faltering relationship amongst a Red Scare that occurred during the run of the series.

And yes, the film will show the good, bad and the ugly. Lucie Arnaz has always been open and frank about her parents - their strength and their faults. She’s mentioned this film will show the real sides of who her parents were as real people - not their iconic TV characters.

I hope your right, because it would make an interesting story. Especially including all the not so flattering gossip that has been spoken about for years. I just don't see it happening. The I Love Lucy show and Lucy and Desihas become such a brand, including color versions of episodes at holiday season, I don't see them risking telling 'the good, bad and the ugly" of their life.

 

 

""

 

 

Even that clip of Lucie Arnaz wasn't "frank" and totally skips over things like Ball calling Arnaz a "bum" when interviewed by Barbara Walters, which doesn't exactly suggest the great friendship-after-divorce Lucy Arnaz claims. This isn't a put down of Lucie Araz, as I don't expect her to have or share negative feelings about or present a warts-and-all image of her parents. I've never been able to tell how many of the rumors about Lucy are true (and I don't much care, either). It just suggests, as you say, that the image is going to be carefully preserved.

Updated On: 1/14/21 at 05:34 PM

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Posted: 1/15/21 at 2:56pm

I don't know who is directing this, but one thing I'll note is that Aaron Sorkin has never seemed concerned with accurate portrayals of the people his biographic screenplays are about. He just seems to take a basic outline of what happened, and then concoct his own characters to suit his storytelling. For example, in The Social Network, the character that Jesse Eisenberg portrayed was nothing like the real life Mark Zuckerberg (even though most people nowadays seem to mentally conflate Eisenberg's portrayal with the actual Zuckerberg). Likewise, Sorkin took considerable liberties when writing the script to the his Steve Jobs film, with respect to the portrayals of Jobs and Wozniak as portrayed by Michael Fassbender and Seth Rogan, respectively.

The screenwriter doesn't really play a role in making casting decisions, but I think we will most likely see a portrayal of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz that do not necessarily reflect their real life counterparts, but are perhaps tailored to the capabilities and personalities of Kidman and Bardem.

[Tag]

Posted: 1/15/21 at 5:14pm

^Sorkin will also be directing.

[hearthemsing22]

Posted: 1/18/21 at 9:30am

NO. Please no. 

 

That's all I have to say about that. 

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Posted: 1/18/21 at 11:26am

Tag said: "^Sorkin will also be directing."

Ah okay. In that case, I definitely don't expect Kidman and Bardem's takes to resemble the actual Lucille and Desi.

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 1/19/21 at 5:13pm

Lucie Arnaz set the record straight on Facebook:

https://fb.watch/374FFNvs8N/

Updated On: 1/19/21 at 05:13 PM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/19/21 at 6:27pm

Love it. Lucie shuts all the bull**it down!

[Gorlois]

Posted: 1/19/21 at 7:34pm

Most people who were careful readers knew all that. I will keep an open mind, and Nicole Kidman is a very talented actress— but I just don’t think I will buy her as Lucille Ball!

[joevitus]

Posted: 1/19/21 at 10:18pm

She's a class act, but that doesn't mean she's right. And it's silly to argue that no one should be complaining about whether Kidman is well-cast because she aren't playing Lucy Ricardo but Lucille Ball, when the film's title gives the exact opposite impression. Maybe a different title would have engendered a different response? Glad  she defended the actress cast, and that she's supportive. Doesn't in the least make me thing Kidman will make a good Lucy--either Ball or Ricardo. But I'll probably see it when it comes out.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 1/19/21 at 10:34pm

Gorlois said: "Most people who were careful readers knew all that. I will keep an open mind, and Nicole Kidman is a very talented actress— but I just don’t think I will buy her as Lucille Ball!"

I didn't even buy her as Grace Kelly...such a weird choice to play Lucille Ball...

 

 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/19/21 at 10:46pm

Lucille Ball wasn’t anything like Lucy Ricardo. In real life her personality was subdued and she spoke in a lower voice than the one she used for Lucy Ricardo (which damaged her vocal cords which is why her voice was so deep in later years agumented by the lifelong cigarette smoking). This is the emphasis Lucie Arnaz is making - Kidman is playing Lucille Ball, not Lucy Ricardo. And the film isn’t I LOVE LUCY. It’s titled BEING THE RICARDOS because it takes place during a production week of an episode of I LOVE LUCY where Ball and Arnaz play the Ricardos. Other events underscore this week which is what the film focuses on. Lucie Arnaz addresses all of this in her video message.

Here’s Lucie Arnaz speaking about what her parents were like:

 

[joevitus]

Posted: 1/20/21 at 12:31am

Not seeing anyone claim Lucille Ball and Lucy Ricardo were identical, and the point you're making has been  made like a hundred times at this point. Doesn't make Kidman sound any more appropriate for the role.

[darreyl102]

Posted: 1/20/21 at 2:04am

joevitus said: "Not seeing anyone claim LucilleBall and LucyRicardo were identical, and the point you're makinghas been made like a hundred times at this point. Doesn't make Kidman sound any more appropriate for the role."

Exactly. 

I also see what others have pointed out in this post about a Spaniard playing a Latino being somewhat problematic, especially since a lot of people seem to think they are the same, when they are not. 

Updated On: 1/20/21 at 02:04 AM

[Gorlois]

Posted: 1/20/21 at 4:40am

joevitus said: "Not seeing anyone claim LucilleBall and LucyRicardo were identical, and the point you're makinghas been made like a hundred times at this point. Doesn't make Kidman sound any more appropriate for the role."

Yes, exactly this.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 1/20/21 at 7:17pm

Spotted in Washington Heights: 

https://imgur.com/5nclB1c

Updated On: 1/20/21 at 07:17 PM

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 1/20/21 at 9:54pm

JBroadway said: "Spotted in Washington Heights:

https://imgur.com/5nclB1c"

Not related, unfortunately. Sorry if you knew that already, and were just posting for fun, as I'm guessing you were.

FAQ: What are the "Desi" and "Lucy" trailers on a movie set? - On Location Vacations

Updated On: 1/20/21 at 09:54 PM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/20/21 at 10:34pm