In a series called Mondo Bullshittio, let’s talk about some of the most glaring hypocrisies and faux pas in pop culture… and all that it affects.
It’s almost as though someone thought, “You know who has red hair? Nicole Kidman. Let’s cast her for the part of Lucille Ball.” While other considerations of Kidman for portraying the iconic comedienne might have included that Hollywood feels obliged to bring audiences a “serious,” post-#MeToo interpretation of Lucy and Desi’s relationship, just about any other pick would have been easier to imagine playing the part. Although Kidman is a talented actress (with the Oscar to prove it), her aura of woodenness is not at all suited to someone who was known for changing the slapstick comedy game.
Even Cate Blanchett, originally enlisted to play the role in Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos, was a stretch. But still, there was something in her countenance and breadth of acting range that made one feel slightly more assured about Ball’s portrayal. Now, all at once, it’s as though not since Scarlett Johansson being slated to play a trans man has there been so much uproar about a casting decision. And rightly so. This is Lucille fucking Ball. A legend and a pioneer in her field–not just as a woman, but as someone navigating the first (then) modern and fully realized sitcom on television.
Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz doesn’t exactly associate in one’s mind as a match either, and Bardem, too, bears a similar stoicism to Kidman (even if his blood runs naturally hotter by virtue of not being Australian). Somewhat comforting is that Lucie and Desi Arnaz Jr. are both producers on the film, yet, at the same time, like Brian May overseeing Bohemian Rhapsody, those too close to a situation can detract from getting down to the nitty-gritty of a story (hence a biopic about Freddie Mercury having no lurid sex scenes). What’s more, Lucie seemed quite pleased with Blanchett as the first choice, remarking in 2019, “She totally gets where my mother was coming from, and she’s going to be magnificent in this.” Blanchett was attached to the project as early as 2017, so one really does have to wonder what, exactly, got her “out” and Kidman “in.”
Echoing tones of My Week With Marilyn in terms of hyper-focusing on a small block of time in a star’s life in the 1950s, the premise for the film is as follows: Being the Ricardos takes place over the course of one production week on the iconic sitcom I Love Lucy… Beginning with a Monday table read all the way through filming on Friday with an audience, Lucy and Desi face a marital crisis that could upend their careers and their relationship.” It’s just the sort of narrative structure Sorkin thrives on, and maybe with his usual deftness in screenwriting, it will be all right.
But one can’t help but think of just how much another actress could have done the role justice. And not even merely the ones who have red hair already. After all, to be truly accurate, one should have chosen a brown-haired actress who would be required to use Henna rinse in order to truly embody the persona. For the “serious” actress, Kate Winslet would have been a more appropriate choice (even though a natural blonde rather than brunette). While everyone is talking some “justice for Debra Messing” bullshit, redheads like Julianne Moore or Jessica Chastain (who previously worked with Sorkin in Molly’s Game) also would have been better suited. Almost anyone would be.
Soon, with such a lax precedent being set, they’ll be saying Rebel Wilson is going to be cast as Ethel because they’re both blonde and “of a similar physique”–even though true fans know Ethel had to wear a fat suit underneath her clothes, eventually contributing to her real life struggle with weight as she began to gain it naturally. Anyway, at this rate, one supposes we can just be glad Ellie Kemper of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt wasn’t chosen for her red hair and “comedic” value instead. Though she, too, might have been more capable at convincingly carrying off Ball’s gamut of facial expressions, one of the most signature being to contort her lips into an incongruous position to form a disgusted look as she uttered something close to, “Ugh.” Basically, her reaction from beyond the grave to this actress choice.
