Nicole Kidman: “It's nice to make people laugh for a change”

Oscar buzz is humming for Nicole Kidman’s brilliant portrayal of comedienne Lucille Ball. In a candid interview as Nic returns to our shores with her family, she reveals why this was such a tough and special role, the magic that fuels her marriage and how protecting her daughters is her top priority.

- JULIE TRIEDEN

Watching Being the Ricardos, it’s hard to believe anyone could question Nicole Kidman as the perfect Lucille Ball. From the very first frame we are in the presence of not just the very feisty and complex Lucille Ball, but her alter ego, the hilarious Lucy Ricardo, comedy queen of I Love Lucy, the most successful television sitcom of all time.

But when Aaron Sorkin announced his casting of Nicole as Ball and Javier Bardem as her off- and on-screen hubby Desi Arnaz/Ricky Ricardo, social media descended into a frustrating echo chamber of tumbling eye rolls. Nicole wasn’t a physical comedienne, they said, Javier was Spanish, not Cuban, and not a musician (as bandleader, singer and bongo player Desi was). Never mind that both actors are multiple award winners with a breadth of work crossing all genres, some I Love Lucy fans knew better!

Well … it turns out they didn’t, for the film is now creating a noisy Oscar buzz stretching from New York to London, LA to Sydney. And if those naysayers were expecting to see a catalogue of Lucy Ricardo’s unforgettable slapstick recreated on the screen, they were also wrong, for the secret to this intriguing film written and directed by the masterful Sorkin – creator of The West Wing – is that it’s not at all what you expect.