Cate Blanchett To Play Lucille Ball in Aaron Sorkin-Penned Biopic
by Rebecca Ford
9/2/15


Cate Blanchett is attached to star as Lucille Ball in an authorized biopic that Aaron Sorkin will write. Sorkin has not started working on the script yet, but is attached to the project for Escape Artists.

Ball's children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr., will produce the film along with Escape Artists. Jenna Block will oversee the project for Escape Artists.





The film will center on the life of the iconic actress, who starred on TV sitcoms "I Love Lucy", "The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour", "The Lucy Show", "Here's Lucy" and "Life with Lucy". She was nominated for 13 Emmys and won four times, and she also won the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1979.

She was married to actor Desi Arnaz from 1940 to 1960.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cate-blanchett-play-lucille-ball-819891

I can only hope that this movie will be more honest and show the intense and deep love that these two wonderful people had for each other. I do have some hope that it will, being that their kids are the ones producing it. I have yet to see a decent movie of their lives - one that doesn't just harp on the negative aspects of their marriage either. Despite their divorce the real fans know that Lucy and Desi were deeply in love with each other and they touched many lives. Mine included.

Hot4Ricky, that was a nice tribute you gave to Lucy and Desi.

On another note, have many of you heard the old radio show "My Favorite Husband" with Lucy and Richard Denning? It pre-dated I Love Lucy by a couple of years and was very good. The same writers of her tv show, Madelyn Pugh Martin Davis and Bob Carroll, Jr. wrote this radio program for Lucy.

This will be a motion picture in the theatre right? Not a Lifetime movie or HBO or something right? I hope it is. I'd like to see it at the Movie theatre!

This will be a motion picture in the theatre right? Not a Lifetime movie or HBO or something right? I hope it is. I'd like to see it at the Movie theatre!

Yes, it will be a theatrical release.

I wonder if Lucy would have ever imagined someone who'd played Queen Elizabeth I to have played HER? I'll bet Bette Davis would be fit to be tied at that thought!:lol:

I wonder if Lucy would have ever imagined someone who'd played Queen Elizabeth I to have played HER? I'll bet Bette Davis would be fit to be tied at that thought!:lol:

This Lucille Ball film is being produced by Lucy's two children. Bette Davis's children included daughter, B.D. Hyman. If having your children behind the production is a prerequisite for having a movie bio done, with a child like Hyman, I'm quite sure Bette Davis would have happily passed on having her story on film! She sure wasn't jealous of that Joan Crawford movie bio!

Lucille Ball was so gorgeous.

This Lucille Ball film is being produced by Lucy's two children. Bette Davis's children included daughter, B.D. Hyman. If having your children behind the production is a prerequisite for having a movie bio done, with a child like Hyman, I'm quite sure Bette Davis would have happily passed on having her story on film! She sure wasn't jealous of that Joan Crawford movie bio!


LittleRicky II,

Hmm, I didn't know that this was to be produced by the Arnazes. Interesting!
My point re Cate Blanchett being cast, though, was that since she's played Queen Elizabeth I, I can imagine that Miss Davis would have wanted her to play HER [instead of Lucy]- since Miss Davis herself not only played the historic figure in two movies but also went on record as saying that the English queen was the one person she wished she could have BEEN had she been borne someone else.

LittleRicky II,

Hmm, I didn't know that this was to be produced by the Arnazes. Interesting!
My point re Cate Blanchett being cast, though, was that since she's played Queen Elizabeth I, I can imagine that Miss Davis would have wanted her to play HER [instead of Lucy]- since Miss Davis herself not only played the historic figure in two movies but also went on record as saying that the English queen was the one person she wished she could have BEEN had she been borne someone else.

Yes, I'm sure she would have liked that, but she certainly would have added the caveat that only her son Michael could be involved with the production, not daughter B.D.

Cate Blanchett on Playing Lucille Ball
by Sara Vilkomerson
10/14/16


I want to know what’s going on with the Lucy and Desi Arnaz project you are attached to.

Lucie Arnaz has been incredibly, unbelievably generous. We met a few years ago and started talking about this and now Aaron Sorkin is in advanced talks to adapt her mother and father’s story. It’s incredible. I mean, you want to talk about astonishing women who have made a lasting impact? You walk onto a film set and you’ve got the female bathrooms called “Lucy” and the male bathrooms called “Desi.” [Laughs]

She was the first female studio head, for goodness sake, and a mother and she broke all the rules and changed comedy and was this incredible actress. And then you’ve got this amazing love story between these two people. He’s Cuban and he’s younger than her.





I don’t think I realized he was younger.

Of course, we won’t be casting anyone younger than me. [Laughs] But really, it’s so great and Lucie Arnaz has been so amazing to give us the authorized version of her story. It’s an incredible act of trust.





I take it that "I Love Lucy" made it to Australia?

Oh god, yes. I think she was watched around the globe. I’ve watched them all. But of course, it’s one thing to watch as a fan and then it’s another to think about how to delve in. There’s so much there and it’s so rich. But it’s a lot to try and think about inhabiting that genius!





So when do you think you’ll be able to get it going?

As soon as possible! I’ve read a lot of films — and made a few — that have ended up being biopics. In the end, this has to be so much more than that. The directorial vision of it will be absolutely vital. It’s terrifying. But like all good things, it’s equally terrifying and exciting.

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/10/14/cate-blanchett-oceans-8-thor-ragnarok-lucille-ball-biopic

Amazon Studios Boards Lucy and Desi; Aaron Sorkin Scripting, Cate Blanchett To Play Lucille Ball
by Mike Fleming Jr
August 7, 2017


Amazon Studios has acquired Lucy and Desi, the Aaron Sorkin-scripted drama from Escape Artists that has Cate Blanchett attached to star as TV’s pioneering star Lucille Ball. The project has been percolating a couple years.

Escape Artists Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch will produce.




I’m told that there already is movement toward finding a big star to play Ball’s former husband Desi Arnaz, with names like Javier Bardem in the mix, as well as for Fred and Ethel — originally played by William Frawley and Vivian Vance — who rounded out the quartet behind one of TV’s classic early sitcoms.

The subjects’ children, Lucie Luckinbill and Desi Arnaz Jr, are involved in the authorized telling of the tempestuous love/business relationship between Arnaz and Ball, whose production company Desilu launched such series as "Star Trek".

The rights package empowers the use of memoirs written by both Ball and Arnaz, rights their children have controlled since their parents died.

http://deadline.com/2017/08/lucille-ball-cate-blanchett-desi-arnaz-movie-aaron-sorkin-amazon-studios-1202143942/