In the groundbreaking show I Love Lucy, Ricky Ricardo’s catchphrase was, “Lucy, you got some ‘splainin’ to do!” And explain she does in the new teaser trailer Aaron Sorkin‘s Being the Ricardos, as Nicole Kidman plays Lucille Ball with a steely dignity that demands respect. The film co-stars Javier Bardem as her husband Desi Arnaz, and comes to theaters December 10th and Amazon Prime Video on December 21st.
On camera, the two geniuses Ball and Arnaz led a television revolution, even as their marriage collapsed behind the scenes. Being the Ricardos is set over the course of one critical week in what appears to be 1956, as they film the Season 5 episode “Lucy’s Italian Movie” with its iconic grape-vat fight.
The trailer opens with Ball laying out her worth: “I am the biggest asset of the portfolio of the Columbia Broadcasting System,” she says over a montage of behind-the-scenes footage. “The biggest asset in the portfolio of Philip Morris Tobacco Westinghouse. I get paid a fortune to do exactly what I love doing. I work side by side with my husband who is genuinely impressed by me. And all I have to do to keep it is kill for 36 weeks in a row. And then, do it again the next year.”
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Being the Ricardos co-stars J.K. Simmons as William Frawley (Fred on I Love Lucy) Nina Arianda as Vivian Vance (Ethel on I Love Lucy), Jake Lacy and Alia Shawkat as writing partners Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Pugh, and Tony Hale as producer Jess Oppenheimer. Check out the teaser trailer below.
Up next for Kidman is Robert Eggers’ The Northman, while Bardem can be seen in December in the sci-fi epic Dune. As for Sorkin, earlier this year he won a Golden Globe for his screenplay of The Trial of the Chicago 7.