FILM · 2021 · USA
Being the Ricardos
30 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (30)
- #001
Desi misleadingly claims his family left Cuba because of the Bolshevik revolution, but in reality they left in 1933, twenty years before the Castro revolution. There was a political coup that year, but it was a different one.
- #002
Linda Lavin is the only actor in the film who actually worked with Desi Arnaz; she also guest-starred on Alice (1976), which was written by Madalyn Pugh Davis, the character she plays. Robert Pine was also announced as appearing in the film. He was the only actor who worked with Lucille Ball on The Lucy Show (1962). However, Pine is not in the final cut of the film, even though he still appears in online listings.
- #003
In January 2021 it was reported that Cate Blanchett had dropped out and been replaced by Nicole Kidman. Both actors are Australian, and Blanchett did voice work on Kidman's Eyes Wide Shut (1999) at Kidman's suggestion.
- #004
In an interview for the Turner Classic Movies podcast The Plot Thickens, J. K. Simmons confirmed that he rarely takes roles playing a real-life person, but that this one interested him as another chance to work with Aaron Sorkin. They first collaborated on Broadway when Simmons was Stephen Lang's understudy in Sorkin's A Few Good Men.
- #005
Javier Bardem did not meet Lucie Arnaz until filming was finished, but Nicole Kidman spent a lot of time with her. Arnaz gave her the private tapes of her mother talking with her and even let her borrow her parents' wedding rings.
- #006
Linda Lavin plays the older Madelyn Pugh, who years later, together with Bob Carroll Jr., served as executive producer of the sitcom Alice (1976), in which Linda Lavin starred.
- #007
Lucy says she knows everything about racing because "Damon Runyon made a movie about it." She is referring to Sorrowful Jones (1949), in which she starred with Bob Hope as a bookmaker. Ball made several films with Hope, and Desi Arnaz was a bandleader on Hope's radio program.
- #008
Tony Award-winning stage actor Nina Arianda plays Vivian Vance, an experienced stage actor before she took the role of Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy (1951).
- #009
Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman were ten years older than Desi and Lucy were at the time the film is set. Nina Arianda and JK Simmons were the perfect ages for Vivian Vance and William Frawley.
- #010
In August 2017 it was announced that Amazon had acquired the rights to a Lucille Ball biography written by Aaron Sorkin, and that Cate Blanchett was in talks for the lead role.
- #011
In an interview in February 2023, Lucie Arnaz said the reason Cate Blanchett left the project was that Aaron Sorkin, who was initially only supposed to write the screenplay, ultimately insisted on directing the film, and Blanchett did not want to work with him as director and chose to leave instead.
- #012
The word "showrunner" was not in use during the period the film depicts.
- #013
The Friday newspaper is dated September 12, 1952, giving the film's time span as Monday, September 8, to Friday, September 12.
- #014
Aaron Sorkin initially wanted an unnamed Brazilian actor to play Desi Arnaz, but a casting consultant said this would be wrong because he thought Brazilians were not Spanish since they speak Portuguese, not Spanish. The actor is said to have been Golden Globe nominee Wagner Moura.
- #015
Nicole Kidman plays Lucy in several recreated moments from I Love Lucy. This is not Nicole Kidman's first involvement in a project connected to Lucille Ball; she was the famous star of Moulin Rouge (2001), a remake of Moulin Rouge (1934), which featured a pre-stardom Lucille Ball.
- #016
Nicole Kidman considered leaving the project because she was so overwhelmed by the prospect of playing Lucille Ball.
- #017
Rehearsals on set were impossible because of COVID-19 restrictions. Instead, all rehearsals were done over Zoom.
- #018
It reunites Alia Shawkat and Tony Hale from the comedy series Arrested Development (2003).
- #019
The announcement that Nicole Kidman would take the role of Lucille Ball drew some criticism online. Ball's daughter, Lucie Arnaz, jumped to Kidman's defense.
- #020
Being the Ricardos was released 70 years after the premiere of I Love Lucy (1951).
- #021
The film's cast includes three Oscar winners: Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem and J. K. Simmons. All three were also nominated for an Oscar for this film.
- #022
This is the second time screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and actress Nicole Kidman have been paired on a film. The first was for Malice (1993).
- #023
The events depicted here take place during the writing and filming of the Season 1 episode Fred and Ethel Fight (1952).
- #024
Desilu Studios (on Cahuenga Boulevard) was not established until the third season. The cast and crew in this film are in the Second Season.
- #025
It became one of the most successful films released on Amazon Prime. (Amazon does not share its numbers, but Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke said they were stunned by the numbers.)
- #026
It was shot over a period of 38 days.
- #027
Nina Arianda (Viv) appeared in the series Goliath (2016) for four seasons. The series' final season focused on a story featuring a character played by J. K. Simmons (Bill).
- #028
It reunites Tony Hale and Nelson Franklin from the comedy series Veep (2012).
- #029
Paul McCartney's MPL Communications owns Desilu Music Corp, which holds the publishing rights to the "I Love Lucy" Theme composed by Eliot Daniel and Harold Adamson.
- #030
In the scene where Ethel tries on the red dress for the dinner party, the right strap slips off her shoulder and is pulled back up three times.
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