Lucie Arnaz Praises Nicole Kidman’s Portrayal of Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball's daughter had nothing but kind words for Kidman.

Lucille Ball’s daughter had nothing but kind words for Kidman.

Earlier this year, filming began on Being the Ricardos, a biopic directed by Aaron Sorkin depicting the professional lives of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz behind the scenes of the classic TV sitcom, I Love Lucy. In the roles of Ball and Arnaz will be Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem, respectively. For this production, Ball and Arnaz’s own daughter, Lucie Arnaz, was consulted on those playing her parents. According to Arnaz, Nicole Kidman in particular did a “spectacular job,” as she told The Palm Springs Life magazine.

“The two days that I watched, though, were both little flashbacks- so she was playing Lucy in the late ’30s and mid-’40s. She wasn’t Lucy of Lucy Ricardo fame yet, so it was a trifle different,” Arnaz said. “And I know she meant it to be, so it could feel different.”

“But boy, what she did was astounding,” Lucie added. “She’s got such poise and class.”

Arnaz clarified that no one in the cast was chosen for their roles due to resemblances to their real-life counterparts, but rather based solely on their acting abilities. “Nobody was cast because they look exactly like somebody. They were cast because they’re spectacular performers, actors, and they can capture the basic essence of what has been written in this script,” she shared.