Nicole Kidman Reveals The Huge Star She Replaced To Play Lucille Ball
With the release of Amazon Prime's "Being the Ricardos," fans are finally getting to put their theories to the test, finding out if the casting of Nicole Kidman as famed comedian Lucille Ball was the right choice.
The "Bombshell" actor took the lead in the film that follows the relationship between Ball and her husband, Desi Arnaz, as the couple navigated their hit show, "I Love Lucy," and their marriage. Kidman admitted to The New York Times that re-enacting some famous scenes from "I Love Lucy" was a bit harder than she first anticipated. The one scene that gave Kidman the most trouble was recreating the iconic episode where Lucy Ricardo stomps grapes. Kidman revealed she "only practiced on a floor," so when it came time to act as Ball acting as Lucy Ricardo, she was caught off guard. "The one thing I didn't count on was that there were going to be real grapes. They're actually really slippery."
Speaking to Chris Rock for Variety, Kidman told the comedian she was "way out of [her] comfort zone" playing Ball, spending "an enormous amount of time" studying the comedian that dominated television in the 1950s. "It was like trying to use everything in your arsenal as an actor," the celeb told USA Today. "I was going to have to stretch in a massive way." Kidman's casting didn't sit right with many fans, who are now learning which big name actor was their first choice to play Lucille Ball.
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's daughter wanted another actor to play her mother
When the casting of Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball first hit the news, backlash instantly grew, with many fans claiming the role should have gone to Debra Messing.
"What I needed was a great dramatic actress with a dry sense of humor and a facility with language, and Nicole has all of that," said "Being the Ricardos" director Aaron Sorkin in response to fans request for the "Will and Grace" star. Perhaps the most surprising person to come to Kidman's defense was Ball's daughter Lucie Arnaz who took to Facebook Live to tell fans why Messing didn't make the cut. "Here's the deal and what you should understand: We're not doing a remake of 'I Love Lucy,'" Arnaz said. "It's the story of Lucille Ball, my actual mother — not Lucy Ricardo — and her husband, Desi Arnaz, my dad — not Ricky Ricardo" (Vva Entertainment Weekly).
Lucie, executive producer of "Being the Ricardos," then revealed to The New York Times that although she had Kidman's back, the "Big Little Lies" actor wasn't exactly her first choice. The Amazon Prime film was first slated to be a TV mini-series with Cate Blanchett at the head. "It just took too long and we lost her," Lucie said. "I was devastated."
So, how did Kidman feel about replacing "The Lord of the Rings" actor? As she told the Times, "I feel like there's a sacred pact among us all — whoever gets something, that's where it was meant to land."