Nicole Kidman Says She Was Terrified to Play Lucille Ball Amid the Backlash

Nicole Kidman was admittedly nervous taking on the role of Lucille Ball in Aaron Sorkin’s biopic Being The Ricardos amid all the backlash surrounding her casting. The actress, who is earning Oscar chatter with her portrayal of the I Love Lucy star, opened up Saturday at a Los Angeles film screening about how she was affected by the negative response to her casting by people who argued that Debra Messing would have been a better choice for the legendary redhead. 

The Oscar winner said of filming the Sorkin film, set for a Dec. 10 release, “I had massive trepidation about a month prior, and Aaron had to get on the phone and send me emails saying, ‘You’ve got this,’” according to Variety. The Big Little Lies star credited Sorkin with helping her feel comfortable in front of the camera, calling the experience “frightening but incredibly exciting.”

Sorkin defended his casting choices of Kidman as Ball and Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz to The Hollywood Reporter last week. “We made this movie during COVID, and so in Zooming with Nicole and Javier Bardem and everyone else, I’d make it very clear to them that I am not looking for a physical or vocal impersonation of these people,” he said. “I know that Nicole was working on Lucy’s voice for a while, and I wanted to relieve her of that. As far as audience anticipation, that’s something I’m just not worried about. I’m certain that when people see the movie, they’ll leave feeling that Nicole has made a very solid case for herself.”

Being The Ricardos follows a week on the set of I Love Lucy in the 1950s, where Ball and Arnaz cemented themselves as a legendary comedy duo while dealing with their complicated off-screen marriage. The film is being described as “a revealing glimpse of the couple’s complex romantic and professional relationship, that takes audiences into the writers’ room, onto the soundstage and behind closed doors,” and is being heralded by early reviewers as a favorite for awards season. Being The Ricardos is in theaters Dec. 10 and on Amazon Prime Video Dec. 21.