Saw Being the Ricardos tonight.

This sounds really cool. I like these actors very much, Simmons in particular.

Without giving away too much, what was the wokeness and why was it so offensive to you? Did they openly acknowledge racism or sexism?

Sometimes it feels like we get a lot of posts that are just excuses to complain about "wokeness."

What's the matter, OP? The film blog you work for won't let you complain about "wokester SJW bullshit" in your review so you do it here? Worried that you'll get kicked off the GALECA Facebook if you say what you're really thinking?

OP the episode involving the female writer and the clumsy integration of wokeness sounds familiar in some of Sorkin’s work. I really wanted to enjoy The Newsroom and I think I upgraded my cable package partly for that program. But passages 9f the dialogue seems strangely contrived and, borrowing your phrase, took you right out of the story. On The Network I could here the writer’s voice in the dialogue, as though they scripted a personal standpoint into a character’s dialogue. I know this happens, but I don’t think you should notice it. The wokeness subplot might feels clunky and anachronistic because an influential creative force in the production lobbied for its inclusion. You wonder if others involved in the production secretly think “ I told them to leave that out”.

No, I'm a Trump hater. Biden voter. But it seems like movies and tv shows many times force a woke message. They have Madelyn Pugh tell Lucy that it's shameful the way Ricky infantilizes Lucy, and she worries about how stupid the Lucy character is. Now, there may have been some valid criticism along those lines, but it wasn't coming from the writer of the show. And the terms she used were anachronistic. Took me right out of the movie. So heavy handed.

Above, “here” is meant to spell “hear”

I post a ton here and I've never once mentioned wokeness before now so fuck off know it all scumbag R4

Sorry R4. I meant to call R3 a scumbag.

DL favorite Linda Lavin plays Madelyn Pugh. I believe she wrote for Alice, for a time.

R4 yeah it was bad. There are problems with the movie. But, again, Kidman is EXCELLENT. But, I don't know who this movie is for. Lucy is shown to be her dour, tough self. She's not funny in the least, so the gays and fraus who still love Lucy will be crestfallen.

R8 Yes, R3 is over-correcting here, in a really prissy and dogmatic way.

R5/R7, no one asked you about Trump, least of all me. You don't get to call me a scumbag when you're mad (in part) about something I didn't even say.

Plenty of critics at the time complained about the Lucy character being stupid. John Crosby infamously railed about the character's "abysmal stupidity." You can bet that plenty of writers, producers and even actors took criticism to heart, they were very serious about the show.

You may be mad about it being "woke" because it's two women talking about it and that sounds too much like woke feminism to you, but you would do well to try to get past your own biases and approach the scene neutrally.

R10 Too bad because I think the writer is portrayed by an actress I liked very much in Arrested Development.

If the production elements are good, I will still watch and probably still enjoy. OP’s post is interesting and honest. That’s nice to see and read here.

R12 no, it just made absolutely no sense in the context of the movie. I've interviewed Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr, and the things she says in that scene simply would never have occured to her. And, it just had nothing to do with the story, so even if you had someone who makes sense saying it, it would still feel like an unnecessary sop to a tiny segment of the audience. Hopefully it gets cut out.

R13 thank you. Yes, if you're really into the story of Lucy and Desi, it's very worthwhile. There were times when Kidman actually seemed to transform into Lucy- they did a great job with the makeup. And I don't know HOW she got the voice down, but she did. The Ethel was pretty good too.

R13 btw she's in it a ton. Her other scenes are much better. The hot guy from White Lotus plays her writing partner.

R15 See I think these passages where the actor disappears into a “channeled” form of the documentary subject is so cool, even if it happens only intermittently in a film, I will still definitely want to see that.

I watched a neat old John Houston biopic of Toulouse Lautrec on TCM recently. I don’t know how accurate Jose Ferrer and Houston were in replicating Lautrec’s likeness, sound and image (we don’t have film of the artist in life), but I did really admire the sympathetic way the character was portrayed. It’s a very effective, sensitive performance and it’s tricky to get that right in a biopic. I will watch for that in this Being The Ricardos. Biopics that make you feel you have come to know or understand the subject in a deeper way are pretty special. I’ve seen some bad ones fail at doing that, and some performances that feel more like impersonations, but I know that’s a subtle distinction.

I mean, if it doesn't flow with the rest of the film, I get that it would feel jarring, but assuming it's Hollywood "wokeness" turning the film into "garbage" seems like projection, especially in a culture where there's a constant stream of complaints about wokeness, leftists, SJWs, and identity politics, regardless of whether any of those things were even involved.

For all you know, they had scenes about the critics who hated the show but cut them out, making the scene that was left behind look all wrong. Maybe this scene wasn't some propaganda planted by the studio, maybe it was just a mistake.

R18 Yes, but I think OP says that only that short scene was garbage, not the whole film. To your point, abstaining from watching because of one anachronism in an overall excellent production would feel like a “reverse cancellation”. I would not skip an experience because there was a tinge of artifice or preachiness in it.

That scene, which maybe lasted 5 or 6 minutes, was just a symptom of something I've been seeing more and more lately. It's not something I've even mentioned until now. Too many movies today feel they have to clue you in on ideology, even when it isn't part of the story. It's boring, and obvious, and usually takes away from the movie's entertainment value.

Give me aesthetics and style over ideology any time.

R17 this is one of the biopics that takes a week or so in the person's life, and gives you a sketch of them that way, instead of cradle to present day like Coal Miner's Daughter. It was neat seeing Lucy WORK.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. But there are some issues. Some of which can be fixed with reshoots. I hated the way it was framed with "present day" or I guess "latter day" interviews with Jess Oppenheimer and others. This is where Linda Lavin plays Madelyn Pugh. I would scrap all that. They don't need it.

Present day interviews and recollections interspersed into a documentary make me think of The Mighty Wind, that excellent, funny film by Christopher Guest. Different genre, but sounds similar in structure.

[quote]DL favorite Linda Lavin plays Madelyn Pugh. I believe she wrote for Alice, for a time.

Madelyn Pugh was in her thirties during "ILL." Linda Lavin is over 80.

As much shit as I give Nicole Kidman about her Botox and her on-screen wigs, she's incapable of giving a bad performance (even though it almost seems like she's trying to in 'Nine Perfect Strangers.')

She's playing her in the flash-forward scenes, r24. Alia Shawkat plays her in the 1950s.

I wish someone would tell us what the scene is about.

^Mrs. Trumbull was originally a Negro that lived in the basement behind the furnace.

Maeby Funke is playing Lucy?! Freckle-faced, Iraqi-American, and frankly chubby Alia? I think she's great in Search Party, and of course Maeby is iconic...I just don't see how that's going to work.

[quote]Maeby Funke is playing Lucy?!

No.

OP, is the accusation of Lucy as a member of the Communist party the event that Being the Ricardos is based?

Sick of Nicole and the way she seems to monopolize all these TV films but will be the first to admit, I can't wait to see this.

OP, was the screening you saw in a rough enough condition that you expect there to be reshoots, changes, cuts etc.?

[quote] John Houston

Oh, dear.

[quote]The Ethel was pretty good too.

"The Ethel"? How disrespectful can you be to a DL goddess!

[quote] Saw Being the Ricardos tonight.

Did you have sufficient?

R24 Well she plays her.

R31 yes, it's about a week in the production of I Love Lucy, with the backdrop being Lucy being accused of being a communist. Also, Desi's womanizing plays a part in the plot. And Desi's plan to have Lucy be pregnant on the show.

They need to reshoot the ending. It's hokey and anti climatic as it currently stands.

R32 VERY rough. They just finished shooting in May. There are flashbacks where they need to do deaging that hasn't been done. No color correction has been done. And I think the score isn't finished either.

It seemed to play well. People clapped at the end.

OP is worse than Hitler.

OP does an entire review, including Simmons playing Frawley, but does NOT include any notes on the portrayal of DL's own Vivian Vance.

The Viv was good. But, again they had her complaining about them keeping her unattractive, and the jokes at her expense. Not sure that's historically accurate.

It doesn't sound improbable, r41.

If this was too woke for you heaven knows whether you could tolerate "Mildred Pierce."

Holy shot weren’t they still filming like a month ago? Glad to hear Kidman is good since so many are waiting for her to fail.

I just don't see how Kidman can top her performance as moi.

[quote]^Mrs. Trumbull was originally a Negro that lived in the basement behind the furnace.

That should be "^Mrs. Trumbull was originally a Negro that lived behind the furnace in the basement."

Where are you all watching this? I can't find it when I search on Amazon Prime.

Weren't they still filming this a few weeks ago?

OP, I don't believe you really saw the film, because it's not finished.

r48, if you would read ALL THE REPLIES you'd discover that OP saw a very rough cut with no musical scoring, no credits. no GGI of Nicole's aging, just rough, rough, ROUGH.

How can one fairly judge an unfinished film?

If one is judging it as an unfinished film, r51, what's the problem?

R52, OP did not make that clear.

It's made clear in the thread, r53.

Sounds like a made up post.

Desi, Sr., really wasn't that fit at the time you reference. He was already dying his hair jet black back in the '40s pre-"I Love Lucy," and was beginning to suffer from diverticulitis and, even while still married to Lucy, at a certain point required a temporary colostomy bag be surgically worn outside his stomach. The man, among whatever personably responsible or not causes, was growing increasingly sick.

Yes, R9, Pugh and her male fellow longtime "Lucy" co-writing partner Bob Carroll both went on to write for the "Alice" TV series in the late 1970s. :)

Lucy was accused of being a Communist in 1953, when this film is supposedly taking place. Though no Rock Hudson, Desi was 36 years old and still in relatively good shape then. Nothing like the husky barrel-chested Javier Bardem, who is now 52.

Oscar Isaac should have played Desi.

I'm buying my ticket in the hopes of seeing Lucy sobbing alone on the marital bed.

r3, why don't you go slurp shit?

I mean that in the best of senses, too.

R44 I mean, if anyone was hoping for her to fail they will be CRUSHED. She's unbelievable. It's almost supernatural what she accomplishes. I only wish the material were slightly better for her.

Like, I could never imagine the woman who was '60s era Lucy (demanding, pain in the ass on the set) on ILL. But she does it, and is completely plausible.

Viv may have has those feelings, but the way it's presented here just doesn't play real. It's definitely a misstep in a pretty good script.

R56 it's season two of I Love Lucy. He was definitely more fit than in this movie.

I once had lunch with Beatrice Arthur. I was young, and stupid, and was surprised she wasn't like Maude. She was quiet and reserved. Didnt give you much. That is how Kidman plays Lucy. And it's perfect.

R65, Because she was sitting at the next booth.

I was once sitting in the next booth

Me, too.

BILL HOLDEN???!???!

R58 I think maybe they played with the timelines? They have Lucy being "exposed" as a commie, her finding out she was preggers, and them planning the Lucy Goes to Italy episode in the same week. Now, I know that Europe episodes were WAY later than suggested by this movie. I guess the idea was the writers proposed it, and it got scuttled in the moment because of Lucy's pregnancy. And the suggestion is that they revisited the idea a couple of seasons later, but that's not said outright.

I'm not going to spoil it, but the thing associated with them mentioning the Italy episode is one of the best segments of the movie. Really cool the way the show Lucy's process.

Love ya, R61.

R25 I don't know who it was, but some critic years ago talked about how he was constantly surprised by Nicole Kidman. He said it was unfair of him, because at some point, you'd just have to assume she'd be great. I agree with that. But, it seemed SO unlikely that she (or anyone really) could do a good job as Lucille Ball in the '50s. Cate Blanchett had originally signed to do it, but left the project DAYS before filming started. Make of that what you will, but it's very possible that she couldn't get a handle on Lucy.

Any later in the timeline of Lucy's life would be easier, because she sort of became a caricature of herself as years went on. But '50s is fucking tricky. Kidman just comes through big time. With help from hair and makeup, of course, but it's NicKid herself- her facial expressions, her voice, the inflections, the way she looks down when speaking- God she's so good. I want everyone to see it so we can talk about her.

It's possible, r55. A couple film writers (that I saw, there may have been more) posted that there was a test screening in LA the night OP posted. He could have known there was a test screening and written an EST from that. Nothing he's said is anything he couldn't have easily made up, especially since it's a rough cut.

It's also kind of odd that he acts like he's been a film/entertainment writer for some decades, yet didn't know that ILL got a LOT of criticism at the time for the Lucy character being "too stupid."

Not really sure why people are so insistent that OP isn't a troll. He's been posting homophobic ESTs in a few threads, he thinks COVID is man-made "because it just felt that way when I got it," and he's one of the anti-trans trolls.

Did they address Vance's abusive marriage or mental health issues, OP?

Feel free to AMA about Being the Ricardos. I'm here.

I'd really like to get in touch with Sorkin. I think the ending they have is not good, and I hate the older talking heads they use to frame the movie.

My idea is toss the talking heads. Use the 1986 Kennedy Center Honors. Lucy has said it was the greatest award she ever got. Nothing could top it. So, for the framing stuff, use the short bio doc the Kennedy Center uses to fill in that info.

And then, for the end, replace the sappy, bad ending they have with Bobby Stack reading Lucy a letter he wrote to her earlier that week. Desi had died a couple days before the Kennedy Center Honors. Lucy never cried in public, least of all about Desi. But when Bob Stack ended with "By the way, I Love Lucy was never just a title" she cried. That would be an amazing way to end the movie, I think.

Bobby Stack starts at 9:25 in the below clip.

R74 not at all. They address her dislike of Bill Frawley, and his of her. And they seem to buy into the notion that Lucy wanted to keep Viv 15 pounds heavier than Lucy was. However, they stress that Viv and Bill were professionals. Which I loved. And that Bill was a vaudevillian, who'd done three shows a day in front of audiences of 1500+ for decades. And that he knew ALL the ins and outs of show business, and knew EXACTLY how the studio audience would respond to any given action, piece of business or line. I did love how RESPECTFUL the movie was of him, and also Vivan.

OP here- correction to R75- Bob Stack read a telegram that Desi wrote to Lucy earlier in the week. That's what the video shows.

[quote]They need to reshoot the ending. It's hokey and anti climatic as it currently stands.

It's against the weather?

[quote] And they seem to buy into the notion that Lucy wanted to keep Viv 15 pounds heavier than Lucy was.

It's annoying they include one of the longest-standing urban legends in ILL lore but don't address substantive things about Viv

How / where were you able to see this, OP?

R78 I think it spelled it wrong and it auto corrected to that.

Fuck you, man. Do you enjoy being an pinch faced scold? Does it make your day to proofread strangers' internet posts, and then correct them? Is that your mission? Can you life really be that empty?

"Oh dear!" You sound like such a faggot.

(I'm gay)

R79 I think maybe there's a fleeting mention of her mental health issues. Which leads into the weight thing. Like, "Viv, you look really great after having had that breakdown last year! You've lost weight!"

And then Lucy sends Madelyn Pugh up with a hardy breakfast of French toast, butter, and everything to fatten her up. Viv also had wardrobe pick out a new dress flattering to her new weight loss. Of course, Lucy nixes it. "Sure, it's great for Viv, but not for Ethel!"

Test screening at Landmark Westside Pavilion.

I was ready to fill out my survey at the end, but they wound up not doing those. Sorkin was there. And I think I may have seen little Desi.

The Viv weight thing is kinda interesting in that in this version of the story, Lucy is VERY serious about keeping the integrity of the characters and the stories in place. So, her not wanting Ethel to be too attractive isn't about Lucy's vanity, it's about the original concept for the Ethel character.

r84 during lockdown I re-watched much of the series. Interestingly, Viv and Lucille are around the same weight for the first couple of seasons - Lucy is maybe 5 lbs lighter. Viv gained weight immediately after winning the Emmy

Nicole Kidman has facial expressions in this?

Well, listen, this Lucy is pretty dour and low key, which I think was actually how she was. So, whatever limitations Kidman has due to plastic surgery don't matter as much here.

When he had her hair down, she looks amazingly like Lucy. She's beautiful. When she has her hair up, when she's Lucy Ricardo, it's a problem. You can see her face is almost swollen- that seemed to be a problem they'd have to fix with CGI because it was very noticeable.

[quote]Nicole Kidman has facial expressions in this?

Yes -- 36 of them -- sweet as pie to tough as leather.

I'm kind of surprised that some people don't believe OP. Because,

1) Who would make this up and why? This isn't a "I got gangbanged by 12 straight Sigma Chis at Chapel Hill last week" thread.

2) test screenings happen all the time.

Since it isn't finished, perhaps they'll recreate her big Mame moments to add in the credits.

R89, It's the timeline that's making some suspicious, the movie is thought to be still in production, too soon for even a test screening.

[quote]It's annoying they include one of the longest-standing urban legends in ILL lore but don't address substantive things about Viv.

Here is where the legend got it start. Viv brings out the actual "contract."

Any time I've ever come there and told a story about something that happened to me, at least one person doubts it, and is persistent about it. Thing is, it has ALWAYS been true.

I guess some people's lives are so dull and uneventful, they can't imagine anyone else doing cool things.

Here is my pass. This screening happened.

I honestly think with a few tweaks and reshoots, it can be a great movie. They're close. They need to figure out an solid ending. I wish I could tell how it ends. They fictionalize an aspect of the story, and for me, it just really fell flat.

Can I tell it to you guys? The fact is, you all already know what happens historically. This added thing was just such a misstep. Maybe I will put it on Reddit, in a spoiler tag, and you guys can decide if you want to see it.

0/10

[quote]They fictionalize an aspect of the story, and for me, it just really fell flat.

Does it end with Lucy accepting the Oscar for Mame?

R96, And then Lucy's aorta exploded like a birthday balloon.

Lucie Arnaz has said she visited the set twice during filming. On one of her visits, the scene being filmed never actually happened and she was upset enough to object to Sorkin, but he explained that he felt the scene was necessary.

Ironically, near the end of her visit, the sprinkler system was activated and the set for that scene was destroyed.

SO tired of wokescolds. Give it a fucking break. Progressive beliefs have been around for as long as reactionary ones.

R99 Yet you use a stupid word like "wokescold." You sound equally tedious.

[quote] Lucie Arnaz has said she visited the set twice during filming. On one of her visits, the scene being filmed never actually happened and she was upset enough to object to Sorkin, but he explained that he felt the scene was necessary. Ironically, near the end of her visit, the sprinkler system was activated and the set for that scene was destroyed.

Link please.

And then Lucy sends Madelyn Pugh up with a hardy breakfast of French toast.....

Was there a laurel on the tray with that breakfast?

Did you also see Marilyn Monroe and James Dean at the screening?

R100 too true! Thank you. These bitter, old FDR queens are so boring.

This thread remains useless until Lynn Stairmaster weighs in with her Oscar speculation like “If Beatrice Straight can win an Oscar for mere minutes onscreen in Network so can the bitch playing Mary Jane Croft/Betty Ramsey!”

Lucie Arnaz visited the set

I'm going to tell how they ended it. Again, I feel comfortable doing it, because we know how it ended in real life. So, if you want to see the weak ending, scroll down. Trust me, it won't ruin it.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*

*

*

*

The movie opens with Lucy and Desi hearing Walter Winchell, at the end of his broadcast, doing a blind item about America's favorite female comedian being a communist. Lucy knows it's her, because the week before, she testified in a closed door session of HUAC. Lucy explained to them that she'd become a member of the Communist party in 1936 simply to appease her grandfather. HUAC, who's members were beholden to Bill Paley, decided to accept her story, and not make it public.

Well, it leaked, and Winchell alluded to it. All week, while rehearsing, the specter of the Communist story looms over them. Even as Lucy finds out she's pregnant with her second child, and suspects Desi of cheating on her with chorus goils.

On the day of the evening they're to film, the other shoe drops. The headline of the late edition of the Los Angeles Herald Express is "Lucille Ball was Red in 1936" and for the first time in the newspaper's history, the headline was printed in red lettering. The front page had Lucy's registration card with Communist Party checked.

They decide to invite the press to the evening's filming. Desi will make a speech, explaining Lucy's actions. They set it up so that if the crowd applauds, they're saved. If they boo, their TV show, and careers are over.

Lucy wants to Desi to come clean in the speech. Desi demands that Lucy let him lie and say she accidently checked the wrong box. Lucy says "My grandfather was a great man. What's wrong with being for the workers anyway?" and Desi YELLS at her "You're leaving out the part where they knock on your door at 2pm and take your father away from you forever." So basically, it's unresolved as to what Desi will say.

So Desi makes the speech. And then, very dramatically, demands the phone be brought to him on stage. He puts the phone up to the mic. The person on the other end says "Lucille Ball is clear of any wrongdoing." It's J. Edgar Hoover. The audience applauds. Tears everywhere.

So, that did not happen in real life. In fact, Desi had a great line that's left out! That night Desi said "I assure you, the only thing red about my wife... is her hair. And even THAT's questionable!"

Lame, right? I hope they change it.

Was this movie made for theatrical release?

R103, Brian Laundrie was sitting in a back row, on the aisle.

R108 it's an Amazon production, but I believe it will be in the theaters.

I can make one of those in Photoshop R93.

It's so funny to me how when someone comes here to share some special information, or to let people know he saw something he really enjoyed, bitter, nasty, likely physically ugly and obese queens try to tear him down. They want everyone to be as miserable as they are, so they try to make people feel badly about enjoying things, or they try to suggest the person's lying.

I'm SO glad I will never know the particular misery of these poor, benighted creatures. To be completely honest with you, I feel sorry for them.

Again, I just don't understand why people would think that OP would make this story up. Plus DL has been on lockdown for days, this isn't just some random OP.

R112, Do you know where you are?

I refuse to believe Nicole Kidman pulled this off. With that fuckin concrete slab visage. She hasn’t been good since the 90s.

R115 you'll see.

R114 So being on a particular site gives you license to bully someone just because they got to see a fun movie and they want to talk about it?Pretty sad, if you ask me. You win. I won't say anything else about it.

Oscars all round, including one for the child actor who plays Little Ricky! A masterpiece of acting!

[quote] It's so funny to me how when someone comes here to share some special information, or to let people know he saw something he really enjoyed, bitter, nasty, likely physically ugly and obese queens try to tear him down. They want everyone to be as miserable as they are, so they try to make people feel badly about enjoying things, or they try to suggest the person's lying.

[quote] I'm SO glad I will never know the particular misery of these poor, benighted creatures. To be completely honest with you, I feel sorry for them

Oh, I see someone has had their feelings wounded!...

I find it more disturbing that people take anything anonymous at face value.

The entire site is anonymous

[quote] Sometimes it feels like we get a lot of posts that are just excuses to complain about "wokeness."

THANK YOU for raising this r3. I saw a post that decried The Bodyguard as women because it featured an white man romancing a black woman, FFS.

Every instance of an artistic POV differing from 1950s Americana is shrieked as as “woke” and it’s getting ducking tiresome.

This script was written by Aaron Sorkin. The Aaron Sorkin who wrote the The West Wing, a liberal fantasia about decent political operatives who just want to make the world a better place, goshdarnit.

Aaron Sorkin writes what he writes because he is a Jewish bleeding-heart leftie, not because he has mainlined Ava DuVernay and Roxane Gay.

Thank you R106 for the" Lucie Arnaz visited the set" link.

R122 Ohhh NOW I get it. You're that old, sad, very unattractive, mentally ill queen who picks crazy, irrational fights. And then you pretend to be multiple people, all supporting each other's stupid, pointless, positions, and still putting up strawmen when everyone else has moved on. As if that somehow suddenly makes you right, when it's really just a difference of opinion that would've been moved on from but for your obsessive, untreated mental illness. Thanks for clearing that up.

And I have seen you. You are hideous.

R89 and others, I said it was possible OP was making this up, and it is. The information he needed is out there. We get trolls who make up scenarios just so they can complain about the woke/immigrants/ women/whatever.

I do not personally think OP is lying about seeing the test screening. I already said I think he's a film writer or blogger who came here to whine about two ladies talking about the show's criticism as being "a scene about woke feminism," because he knew DL was one of the few places he could do that and get cranks agreeing with him. Also, he could talk about it "anonymously" and not be breaking any embargoes.

That said, paid members ARE "random DLers." I don't know why people think someone is afforded trust and respect just because they paid a buck ninety-nine to post here.

This thread had such potential.

R81 you must be new here. Correcting spelling and grammar is a DL sport. You seem like the type of person who commits cold-blooded murder because someone cuts you off in traffic. BTW it's can YOUR life really be that empty, not YOU life. Stupid faggot.

F&F r127

Psssh r81 called someone a faggot and the context was mean and full of self-loathing. I was just throwing it back in his face. Disapprove all you want, schoolmarm

R126 right I wanted to discuss the movie I was lucky enough to see, but as often happens here one mentally ill queen felt the need to bully me and derail it.

R127 Hahaha. Keep patrolling for grammar mistakes, Sparky. It's too bad this can't be a paying position. But then, it does make up for the fact that you're the biggest disappointment of your father's life, so you are well compensated in a way.

Just to be clear, I would have no problem exploring the sexism of the era. But to have the characters whine about it like snowflake millennials and zoomers is anachronistic and lazy.

[quote]right I wanted to discuss the movie I was lucky enough to see, but as often happens here one mentally ill queen felt the need to bully me and derail it.

We're listening. Ignore the trolls. Test screenings are fun. Been to a bunch. When I was a teenager Iwent to the test of "The Rose" on Long Island. Packed house, director Mark Rydell was there as well as Diana Ross and Ryan O'Neil who were supposed to star in Rydell's next picture "The Bodyguard". So after the screening they hand out opinion cards and it tells the studio what people thought. This time they asked for phone numbers. This was a Wed, Friday night my phone rings and is someone from 20th Century Fox and could we discuss the film. We did and I told him Bette Midler would win the Golden Globe and be nominated for the Oscar 11 months before the nominations were announced.

R133, Is your name Claire Voyant?

Honey, truth, I've done this since a kid. I predicted Shelly Winters would be nominated for "The Poseidon Adventure" two months before the movie was released and anyone saw a frame of it. I predicted Madonna would be "Evita" 12 years before the movie opened when she made her first appearance on "American Bandstand". I predicted Catherine Zeta Jones would win The Oscar the day they announced her casting. I was a kid and saw The Wiz opening week on Broadway and as we were walking thru the seats toward the aisle to the exit, I said to my brother, Diana Ross will do the movie to where a Matinee Lady in front of me stopped in her tracks holding everyone up, turned around and said "Oh Darling, Diana Ross is much too old for the movie. Uh huh.

Who plays Betty Ramsey?

The ghost of Mary Jane Croft

R137, Why did she use such an annoying nasal voice on "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet"?

[quote]Honey, truth, I've done this since a kid.

Be annoying? Truth.

Does it all end with the four main TV show cast members isolated and in despair singing “Being Alive” like a PTA movie?

You know, after thinking about it, I think they could have worked in the progressive angle in a much more interesting way. Watching the series, I've been struck by how cavalier the writers were about domestic violence. (The Black Eye episode is the most blatant example, but it comes up a lot.) Behind the scenes, Vivian actually was in an abusive relationship, and Lucille spent years trying to convince her to leave.

That angle would have been fascinating to address.

I know Sorkin was working on a script for this for several years so I'd like to think he actually spoke with Madelyn and the Bobs before they passed.....anyone know?

Passed what, r142?

Saw: Being the Ricardos

Why is Lucie the keeper of the legacy? We never hear from Desi Jr.

I don't know if I can get past the liberties that seem to be taken with reality.......the episode being filmed the night Desi made his speech was the season three "The Girls Go Into Business" about Lucy & Ethel buying a dress shop....

And Desi, Jr./Little Ricky were born during season two with episode that was broadcast in January, 1953.

And Pugh was one of the creators of the Lucy/Liz character that had originated on the radio show starring Lucille Ball and Richard Denning - "My Favorite Husband" - I doubt that she was too concerned about the way the character was being portrayed.

Why rewrite history just for the sake of a crappy movie. It's like that dumb Mambo Kings movie that tried to present I Love Lucy as being broadcast LIVE.....

R145, Desi, Jr. shows up for certain occasions.

^Sorry.

[quote] the season three "The Girls Go Into Business" about Lucy & Ethel buying a dress shop...

This also shows how progressive the show was. Most housewives in the mid 1950s never thought about going into business.

Harriet wanted to work part time at The Emporium during the Christmas season, but Ozzie wouldn't let her.

Lucy had several jobs. Vacuum cleaner saleswoman, pizza maker, diner cook, salad dressing maker, personal shopper/stock market broker, plus she probably skimmed cash from the funds of The Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League.

[quote]Lucy had several jobs. Vacuum cleaner saleswoman, pizza maker, diner cook, salad dressing maker, personal shopper/stock market broker, plus she probably skimmed cash from the funds of The Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League.

Hello?

[quote] Hello?

But was that really a "job" job? She did it as a bet. And she was having way too much fun for it to be actual work.

Lucy detested topical shows like All In The Family. I don't think she would like being given the progressive Aaron Sorkin treatment.

Maybe Aaron Spelling she would have authorized to tell her story.

r115 = Debra Messing

Does it have a release date yet?

Deb Messing must have been so hurt not to have been considered.

Cate Blanchett would have been good casting but for some unknown reason she didn't play her.

[quote]Cate Blanchett would have been good casting but for some unknown reason she didn't play her.

The ghost of Gary talked her out of it.

[quote] but assuming it's Hollywood "wokeness" turning the film into "garbage" seems like projection, especially in a culture where there's a constant stream of complaints about wokeness, leftists, SJWs, and identity politics, regardless of whether any of those things were even involved.

They did this same bullshit with “Feud”, claiming that Joan and Bette only hated each other due to the patriarchy, which is absolute bullshit.

"We could have been friends."

Yes, Bette and Joan. But you were both cunts so, no.

[quote] They did this same bullshit with “Feud”, claiming that Joan and Bette only hated each other due to the patriarchy, which is absolute bullshit.

Seeing how both Joan and Bette had daughters who wrote tell-all books, I doubt it was the patriarchy that fueled their hatred.

How did Feud make it seem like the patriarchy caused their feud?

I watched it but not that closely apparently.

Something to do with them both being mistreated at Warner Bros?

Nicole says that the part of Lucille was “One of the hardest roles I’ve ever played”, and it's just one of five back-to-back projects Kidman has been working on for the past year.

Says producer Bruna Papandrea who worked with Nicole on Big Little Lies “Without doubt, she’s the hardest working person in the business,”

Poor Cate was born without a funny bone.

But Lucy WAS "woke." She was married to a Cuban in an era when the majority of white America HATED Cubans, it was a gutsy thing to do in that time.

[quote] But Lucy WAS "woke."

And yet, there were no negroes on her show.

What about piano player Marco? That guy wasn't white.

R167 Excuse me?

"And yet, there were no negroes on her show."

Oh, is that the only metric that counts?

Lucy played bridge with Altovise Davis.

.....

.,.,

I don't like Aaron Sorkin's writing - for a hallucinagens lover, he's not very imaginative.

What am I, chopped liver, r167?!

This thread reminded me that Lucy was on right now. I just switched the channel and.....this!

When is the theatrical release?

Sorkin was insufferable on TCM last night ZOOMING with Ben on Lucille Ball Thursday.....

Has anyone listened to an episode of the podcast yet?

So this is one of those torture porn movies, but now the characters are old TV series people and they have to saw off their leg to get away?

r179 it took me an embarrassingly long time to get your post

[quote]How did Feud make it seem like the patriarchy caused their feud?

You didn't watch the ending? It was a piss-poor feminist take as how the men in Hollywood pitted them against one another. Baloney.

[quote]And yet, there were no negroes on her show.

Yes there was... in the train episode.

Basically the ending was women would love each other and support each other and be BFFs if it wasn't for men.

r182 meet r175

"Feud" was 99% made up. They even used a fan-made Joan Crawford letter created by Joan Crawford Babylon and said that Joan had her back molars removed. Then there was Bette having an affair, and on and on. All 100% FAKE.

I wouldn't say 99% more like 52% and what was made up was clearly done to heighten the drama and the tension. and to tighten the story.

Any scenes of Lucy and Viv scissoring?

R184 see R169 to view the tremendous strides to which the black community rose by the 1950s. God bless the USA.

Not only did Lucy have the cojones to marry Desi, she insisted she wouldn't do I Love Lucy without him.

Of course, when she considered taking on I Love Lucy she probably thought it would merely give her and Desi a few months of employment on a TV series most of the world would never see.

Lucy and Desi had been looking for a way to get the same work schedules and the transition of My Favorite Husband to TV presented just that opportunity. Until then, Lucy was in LA with her radio show and Desi on the road 10 months out of the year. The already delicate marriage was about to burst, if they couldn't figure out a way to make a home together.

Having Desi on the show wasn't a deliberate social stand.

Interesting comment, R5. If this was during I Love Lucy, Burns and Allen was also a sitcom at that time. Gracie always played the out-to-lunch spouse who drove George Burns nuts. That was very much a standard theme at the time in comedy. It is unlikely the writer would say this as Lucy's whole persona on the show was the wacky counterpoint to Desi as the show business king. It was the basis for the comedy and, without it, there would not be much to the show.

Actually, I believe the very beginnings of television sit-coms more often used the "idiot father/husband" as the joke, not the mother/wife, Gracie Allen excepted.

Stu Erwin in The Stu Erwin Show, Jackie Gleason in the original Life of Riley (followed by William Bendix in the role), and of course, Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooners. It's oine of the reasons Fatgher Knows Best was called that and was such a hit, the first sit=com to emphasize the wisdom of Dad.

[quote] I wouldn't say 99% more like 52% and what was made up was clearly done to heighten the drama and the tension. and to tighten the story.

Honey, you’re an idiot. The entire thing was bs. All they got right were their names. You don’t make up affairs and entire life events that never happened and pass it off as fact. Murphy got sued and can’t release this shit on DVD thanks to it. It’s also won no awards.

When you start including modern day satirical memes from a random Facebook page and include it in a docudrama you should be fired from Hollywood. Murphy is a hack.

[quote]Honey, you’re an idiot. The entire thing was bs. All they got right were their names. You don’t make up affairs and entire life events that never happened and pass it off as fact. Murphy got sued and can’t release this shit on DVD thanks to it. It’s also won no awards.

What are you babbling about? No where has anyone say it was a documentary. "Feud" is available to buy on Amazon digitally. Who buys DVDs anymore? Second, it was nominated for 18 Emmys winning two technicals, SAG nominations for Lange and Sarandon and four Golden Globes. And Murphy won the law suit.

Sarandon's portrayal of Bette Davis in FEUD was a travesty. But then, her casting was ridiculous stupidity of the worst Ryan Murphy kind.

I want the trailer NOW!

On her IG, Lucie Arnaz said she saw the film and really liked it. She was blown away by Nicole Kidman's performance. She said around Christmas, awards season I would imagine.

I believe Sorkin said in his TCM zoom interview it debuts in theaters on Dec. 16 (for Oscar consideration) and then streaming to soon follow.

[quote]Desi was 35, and still fit and charming in this period.

No, he was always paunchy in the middle and had a sunken chest.

I would call Desi more barrel-chested than sunken-chested.

Desi's only exercise was probably fucking. He also liked golfing, but you're not burning a lot of calories on a golf course.

Why didn't Lucie play Lucy? (she looks older know with the gray hair but when it is dyed the woman looks the same age as Kidman.)

Lucie speaks about the movie . . .

This is going to be excruciating. Did anyone see The Undoing? Kidman was laughably, inexhaustibly awful. (I loathe Debra Messing even more, so don’t start.) These biopic fabrications are rarely not trite and formulaic. That said, I want to see the trailer!

Oh R205, even if it's the best movie in the world you will never admit it.

I'm fascinated that the subject matter interested Aaron Sorkin enough to devote all this time to it. He doesn't seem like he ever would have been a Lucy fan.

Ohhhh R206 you know me too well.

Here's the trailer . . .

Thanks r209!

J.K. Simmons looks perfect.

[quote] I want the trailer NOW! Last Sunday at 1:02 PM

I asked on Sunday, what took so long?

Fred and Ethel don't look fat enough. And why is Vivian smoking? Did she ever smoke/

Otherwise, looks....interesting, if predictable.

She smoked, just never on the show, r213

Kidman should have stopped two facelifts ago.

There is one episode, where they’re all at a restaurant, and Ethel asks Lucy for a cigarette. That was it for Ethel smoking. There’s another photo of Viv holding a cigarette later, like late 60s, but basically she wasn’t photographed with a cigarette much, so she must have been a casual smoker, unlike Lucy the Chimney.

Funny how so many are protesting the criticism of the film because, you know, it's NOT about Lucy and Ricky, it's about Lucy and Desi who were nothing like the characters they portrayed!!!

.....and yet, what image do they use to advertise the trailer? Lucy Ricardo stompin' on the old grapes!

If that's Lucy Ricardo - I'm Caroline Appleby.

Nicole doesn't even get top billing?

I think they are smart. They are really teasing how she looks in the role. Creating suspense.

Never mind r219. I just looked at the poster in an email ad I got and Kidman gets top billing.

I guess they are alternating it due to ego issues. (come on though Kidman is a household name. Bardem not so much.)

There is an episode in the first season where all four of them sit in the living room and smoke. It’s the only time I see Fred and Ethel smoke.

I just gotta say, Lucie Arnaz looks freakin’ amazing in that video she recorded. What is she now, 70? You sure can’t tell, even with the white hair. In fact, if she’d dye her hair, she could look like she’s in her 40s.

R220, Why is Linda Lavin not included in the trailer credits?

I was shocked by the teaser trailer. Nicole was surprisingly convincing as Lucille Ball, while Javiar Bardem looked like an old bloated mess.

[quote]while Javiar Bardem looked like an old bloated mess.

So ... like Desi, circa 1957?

Interesting that r3 doesn't show up unless you click on a link to it

It shows up for me. You must have blocked the poster, r226

I have never blocked anybody. But if you start from the top reading r3 isn't there. You can read it if you click on a link like this r3 though

The trailer completely hides Nicole and Javier. BOMBS AWAY

I am underwhelmed.

I have seen sufficient

She's got the voice mostly down. It sounds like 50's Lucy albeit with a twinge of Kidman.

[quote]She's got the voice mostly down.

In a world where Lucille Ball sounded just like Nicole Kidman.

[quote]Nicole was surprisingly convincing as Lucille Ball,

No, she wasn't.

[quote]She's got the voice mostly down. It sounds like 50's Lucy albeit with a twinge of Kidman.

No, she doesn't.

Is there much evidence of Lucille Ball casually speaking in her natural voice and not as a character on TV or in a film from the early to mid-1950s? I know she did a lot of TV interviews during and after the The Lucy Show after her voice changed so dramatically.

Didn't she look great, r222? She got her mother's skin. Well, if Lucille hadn't smoked like a chimney.

[quote] Is there much evidence of Lucille Ball casually speaking in her natural voice

Yes. And she sounded like an Australian struggling with an American accent.

r235...

[quote]Yes. And she sounded like an Australian struggling with an American accent

Nicole is American. She was born in Hawaii.

The voice is too deep for 1950s Lucy.

Why, Lucy Ball sounds just like Lucy Ricardo in that clip at r238! Imagine that!

Thanks for posting but it's still Lucy at a formal event (The Oscars, no less!) and very much "on" and mostly just reading lists of nominees' names. I was wondering about interviews where she's just speaking candidly and conversationally, with her guard down. But I don't think she made any of those kind of public TV appearances in the mid-1950s on talk shows or otherwise.

R239 She may have been born in Hawaii but she was raised and schooled in Australia in an Australian family. She sounds Australian.

Cate Blanchett has a much more authentic American accent(s) but was born and raised in Australia. But with a Texan father.

Dear Nicole, please stop working so much and be a mother to your children.

Signed, EVERYONE

r243=Xenu

Was Keith Thibodeaux involved in any way?

Nicole "kills". Well the bitch killed me ... again .

Breaking!! Breaking!!

DL's own Linda Lavin is in the cast. No word yet on who she plays. Lucy's mother maybe?

R247 Well, if America bought Linda Lavin giving birth to Philip McKeon, I guess they would buy her giving birth to Lucille Ball.

R247, Linda Lavin plays writer Madelyn Pugh as an older woman, reflecting on "I Love Lucy" in flashbacks.

Ugh, how gimicky, r249

Seeing Linda Lavin will give me PTSD flashbacks.

She’s on every week in the sitcom B Positive, so I advise you not to watch it

r251 = Sean Hayes

Thanks for the warning R252 - I had never watched that show because the female lead is so annoying in the promos I didn't think I could take it.....so now I have another reason to skip it.

Now just watch - CBS will sandwich it between YOUNG SHELDON & GHOSTS.....right now UNITED STATES OF AL is there and I can read a book for half an hour......

Who plays Grace Foster?

Madonna making a film comeback R255.

Chrissy Metz *is* Teensy and Weensy.

Lucie liked it.

R258, No shit.

Lucie looks so much like her mom

I know someone who knows Lucie and let me tell you a little secret - she's actually a nice person.

[quote]Linda Lavin plays writer Madelyn Pugh as an older woman, reflecting on "I Love Lucy" in flashbacks.

Does she scat them?

Does anyone plan to see this in the theater?

Yes, everyone in Jamestown, NY.

"Does anyone plan to see this in the theater?"

I absolutely will. But not in my blue jeans!

[quote]But Lucy WAS "woke." She was married to a Cuban in an era when the majority of white America HATED Cubans, it was a gutsy thing to do in that time.

Desi, a Cuban, had been in a Broadway show, was in a few movies, and was a popular bandleader -- then was the co-star of the most popular sitcom of the 1950s. Do you think I Love Lucy was so popular because white Americans hated him?