Nicole Kidman as "Lucille Ball" and "Masha"
Friday, April 30, 2021 at 11:40AM 
My fellow Kidmaniacs, we have so much to look forward to! By now you've probably seen this photo of Nicole Kidman on the set of Aaron Sorkin's next project, Being the Ricardos a week in the life of the stars of seminal sitcom "I Love Lucy". An earlier image of a much more orange wig is also floating around. People seemed to take offense at the very orange wig as if they had never actually looked at old photos of Lucille Ball. That hair was a COLOR... and a mood. No, a way of life. (This wig above is more subdued.)
This week we also got the trailer to Nicole's next miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers while playing some kind of shady self-help figure / cult leader? Neither have release dates yet but the miniseries is "soon". We suspect the other is a likely December release in theaters (or 2022 if Amazon is feeling confident about their next Oscar slate as is.)
Reader Comments (39)
Destroyer was the first win for Nicole Kidman in my personal line-ups so she’s on something of a career high for me...
1995 - To Die For - Leading - Nominated
2001 - The Others - Leading - Nominated
2003 - Dogville - Leading - Nominated
2004 - Birth - Leading - Nominated
2008 - Australia - Leading - Nominated
2018 - Destroyer - Leading - WIN
2007 - Margot At The Wedding - Leading - Top 10
2017 - The Killing Of A Sacred Deer - Supporting - Top 10
With honourable mentions for The Paperboy, Eyes Wide Shut, The Paperboy, Stoker...
I struggle to think of another actor so consistent (and appearing in my line-ups so many times)
The crude comments against Nicole on Twitter because of that on-set-photo.... the 2007 energy that has...
Her character in Nine Perfect Strangers seems to have a sinister side and I'm really interested in seeing her tap into that since it's been a while, but she'll always be a MOVIE STAR to me so I can't help but get excited about her film work too. Would she be my first choice to play Lucille Ball (not Lucy Ricardo) - absolutely not. Will I watch the movie anyway? Yup.
Nicole always seems to draw an especially vicious form of ire from her detractors for doing what every other celebrity does (even some of their faves). It's gross, but she's still doing great work so let them hate.
Nicole never disappoints, even when the project around her lacks quality (and there are many) she has something interesting to offer.I still think her performance in Birth is one of the best acting ever committed to the screen. Pity the movie was misunderstood back then.
I suspect that if she nails the Lucy part, wig be-damned, she'll be a top contender for/will win the Oscar. Lucille is beloved, but other than knowing her work and successes, we don't know/talk that much about her. I think Nicole will get to add layers to our funny lady and if this film works it will get a lot of people talking about her.
The online criticism is, as expected, quite sexist. It's so odd that few are making fun of Bardem, who just looks like Bardem and nothing like Desi.
Nine Perfect Strangers looks like a lot of fun. Given all of the changed that have taken place, it seems like Nicole is switching between high-end "Blockbuster" style limited-series and high-end prestige projects. It's fairly impressive that an actress in her 50s is so in-demand and getting so much media attention. It's a testament to her star power and true skill.
I'm just finishing Nine Perfect Stranger and i tried hard not to check who's playing who in the series.
Masha is the clear vilain/psycho in the book so i never imagined Kidman could play that part while reading it : that's why i think she's the perfect choice. She didn't play that kind of character before so it will be a surprise and a new challenge for her.
Nicole's bad wigs give me LOIFE. Every time she's in a QUESTIONABLE wig, it's automatically a must-see.
As for her as Lucy, I've not been a HUGE fan of the casting (would've preferred Cate Blanchett), but I'm quite interested in how she plays it. And how they get around the fact that she's 5′ 11″ and Lucille Ball was 5′ 7″. I don't understand why people who cast these biopics cast actors who aren't at least 1 inch taller or shorter then the person they're playing!
And on the new show, I heard an accent. Now, Nicole's accents have normally been British, American or her native Australian, so I'm looking forward to hearing what sounds like German.
Random thought, but Nicole in Dogville is just A++++. Such a phenomenal performance and film. I saw it in the Netherlands before it was released in the U.S., and when it was over, the very anti-Bush crowd clapped and cheered. The guy next to me leaned over (assuming I was American) and said, "Sorry.. that may have been hard for you to take."
Also great is Patricia Clarkson in the doll-crushing scene.
Queen of miniseries. 💗😊😷
People are aware of what Twitter is but still pay attention to the comments?? And then give it more energy by talking about the low-hanging fruit that is online haters... 🤔 The internet is an interesting place, that's for sure.
Anyway, I hope Nicole gets a second Oscar one of these days! I'm just glad she doesn't feel underrated anymore.
How Nicole Kidman only has four Oscar noms for a stellar portfolio of performances is a mystery. I hope Being the Ricardos gets her back to Oscar glory.
I also feel like this might be a good lesson in reminding people that actors shouldn't have the lacquer themselves in prosthetics just to play somebody in a movie. Can you imagine any detractors if Cate Blanchett had stayed on the project? Nobody would've complained she looks little like Lucille. Nobody critiques Cate Blanchett for anything, come to think of it! :)
So is this the project Cate Blanchett was attached to for so long?
She's totally wrong for Lucille Ball and not only because the wig but because she's not funny.
Anyone that says Kidman isn’t funny clearly has not seen her infamous Jimmy Fallon interview about their “date”. A short film of that encounter would be brilliant.
The trainwreck is coming. Twitter already hates it.
She's hilarious. She has a long string of comedies in her filmography.
Looks like Katherine Helmond in Brazil.
"...while playing some kind of shady self-help figure / cult leader? "
you can tell us, nathaniel - the cult is the film experience, isn't it??
The only thing worse than the GlennCult is the Kidmaniacs. Double the delusion.
I wouldn't call myself a Kidmaniac (I thought she was awful in just about everything prior to To Die For and I have huge, embarrassing gaps in her filmography), but I find it interesting how she pushes some people's buttons. If Cate Blanchett, Michelle Williams, Jessica Chastain, Amy Adams or even Streep were playing Lucille Ball, they wouldn't be slammed like Kidman. Is it her first marriage, the Botox, her not so stellar dialect work, or some combination of the three that haunts her? Because seriously she is one of the greats of her generation.
The "Nicole isn't funny" argument not only isn't true, it's also not relevant since this movie is being described as a marital drama, not an I Love Lucy movie. A lot of people are being willfully obtuse about that.
And can we talk for a moment about J.K. Simmons and Nina Arianda as William Frawley and Vivian Vance aka Fred & Ethel Mertz? Pretty smart choices.
I just love Nina Arianda y J.K. Simmons.
I would have cast Nina Arianda as Lucille. I would never get the funds but I would have chose her.
And yes, kidmaniacs are the worst. No actress can play it all. Not even with a wig. I know that she's not going to do the chocolate factory sketch in the movie, but I still don't see her in the role the same way I don't see Ewan as Halston.
Nicole's face journey after pulling back slightly around Rabbit Hole is a factor. I remember when that trailer dropped fans, haters and indifferent were all talking about how her forehead could finally wrinkle at last. She's back to relatively normal looking although it does depend on ghe makeup/lighting/relapse into light injectibles.
I know she's reviled around here but Debra Messing really is perfect for the role. Cue typically Oscar sluts flooded the comment thread with dissenting opinions.
You all want an Oscar for casting BUT you get hysterical when someone suggest that your favorite movie star is not the right choice for a role.
Isla Fisher as Lucy and Sasha Baron Cohen as Desi would have been a much better choice since the departure of Cate Blanchett.
Blanchett and Cohen also sounds good to me.
Kidman has shown comidic timing in Moulin Rouge and To Die For so Nicole is not hopeless. I think this will semi tank with the critics, Im afraid.
I really like Kidman. Her Eyes Wide Shut - Moulin Rouge - The Others - The Hours - Dogville - Birth streak is extraordinary (1999 t0 2004) Never seen anything like it.
Cheers from the biggest QueenBlanchett fan
Talking about streak I think the most incomparable remains Pfeiffer's from 1987 to 1993 - Eastwick, Married to the Mob, Dangerous Liasons, Fabulous Baker boys, Russia House, Frankie & Johnny, Batman Returns, Age of Innocence. Simply astonishing.
I love Nicole but, yes, I don't see her as Lucille Ball. As for Nine Perfect Stranger the role seems an interesting departure for her but I feel strong Pfeifferian vibes.
Speaking of streaks: Bette Davis, 1938-1945 or thereabouts. But if we're sticking with (relatively) contemporary streaks: Robert De Niro, 1973-82.
I predict a disaster as Lucy. She has no comic timing. Maybe when she plays Lucille it will be better.
My guess is that Nicole’s Lucy performance will have some good things going for it (enough to spare her from outright pans), but overall won’t really gel. She’ll get tripped up with the accent. People who like the script and Bardem’s performance will accept Nicole’s, no matter its faults. And she’ll get some courtesy precursor attention.
I love her, but that describes most of her work in recent years. I wish I were more excited, but even outright failure would be more interesting than what I expect.
I really thought Debra Messing was going to be cast as Lucy. And unlike Nicole , Debra has the comedy acting chops that is needed for the role.
I cannot unsee in my mind Blanchett absolutely nailing this part and winning the third Oscar. However, I hope Kidman proves everybody wrong by giving a great performance.
Fuck Debra Messing’s drag, right?
LOL, who would ever cast Debra Messing as the lead of a movie in 2021? She already did 'Lucy' on W&G.
Working stiff - I agree that she is one of the greats. I think that, as with Close, the fan base puts off a lot of people. It is so focused on awards and nominations that the work sometimes gets lost.
Anyway, I could foresee there being a lot of backlash to this movie. People are ready to see Aaron Sorkin fail. And Bardem's ethnicity may be an issue, particularly as the reasons for the West Side Story remake command attention.
Yeah, plus this project always screamed Jessica Chastain/Oscar Issac to me, who have a long personal history and were well matched onscreen in the underrated A Most Violent Year.
So what bitch? We love actresses. Good ones, not like your Othiefia Stolemans and Emma Stones.
Go Kidman!!! Fuck these haters.