Tag Archives: The Trial of the Chicago 7

Amazon Releases First Trailer for Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz Biopic “Being the Ricardos,” Starring Javier Bardem

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It appears Javier Bardem has some ‘splaining to do…

Amazon has released the first trailer for Being the Ricardos, starring the 52-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actor as the late Desi Arnaz.

Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos“I get paid a fortune to do exactly what I love doing,” Nicole Kidman says in the trailer for the film, which will be released on December 21. “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.”

Writer-director Aaron Sorkin’s follow-up to The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a biopic of I Love Lucy stars and real-life couple Lucille Ball (Kidman) Arnaz (Bardem). It’s set during one production week on the TV comedy—from Monday table read through Friday audience filming—when the pair face a crisis that could end their careers and another that could end their marriage.

“You know, I did this show so that Desi and I could be together,” Kidman’s Ball admits in voiceover. “I had no idea it was going to be a hit.” Of course, in the end, it would prove to be so much more—enduring for generations as a classic, following its six seasons on CBS, which saw it win four Emmys, among numerous other accolades.

Being the Ricardos also stars J.K. Simmons, Jake Lacy, Nina Arianda, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Clark Gregg, Nelson Franklin and more.

Bacardi Family’s Trials & Tribulations in 1950s Cuba Getting the Television Treatment

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The life story of Facundo Bacardí Massó and his family is heading to the small screen…

MiLu Entertainment and Ian Reichbach are developing a television series based on the Bacardi family’s experiences in 1950s Cuba.

Bacardi Family in Cuba

Reichbach is adapting NPR correspondent Tom Gjelten’s well-received book Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba, which fuses the story of the Bacardi family’s famous rum business with Cuba’s tumultuous experience over the last 150 years, including Cuba’s fight for freedom, its tortured relationship with America, and the rise of Fidel Castro.

Andre L III of MiLu Entertainment is producing the bilingual English-Spanish series with 6GEN Films, which consists of Bacardi family members Mari Aixalá, Pepin R. Argamasilla and Juan Bergaz Pessino of Bergaz Productions.

“It’s time to tell the untold story of the Bacardi family,” said Andre L III of MiLu. “Authenticity and passion are the key to great storytelling and it has been a privilege to collaborate with the foremost authorities on the history of the most iconic Cuban family.”

Reichbach is a regular collaborator with Aaron Sorkin, having served as a writer and executive story editor on The Newsroom, and a researcher on movies including Charlie Wilson’s War, Moneyball, The Social Network and The Trial Of The Chicago 7.

MiLu Entertainment’s slate includes features The Thicket, which has Noomi Rapace, Peter Dinklage, Sophia Lillis and Charlie Plummer attached.

Javier Bardem In Talks to Portray Desi Arnaz in Amazon & Aaron Sorkin’s “Being the Ricardos”

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Javier Bardem may soon be saying, “Lucy, I’m Home!”

The 51-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actor is in talks to play Desi Arnaz opposite Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball in Amazon and Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos.

Javier Bardem

The film centers on the relationship between the I Love Lucy stars. Having penned the screenplay, Academy Award winner Sorkin also will direct the film from Amazon Studios and Escape Artists.

The film is set during one production week of I Love Lucy — Monday table read through Friday audience filming— when Lucy and Desi face a crisis that could end their careers and another that could end their marriage.

Sorkin originally was going to pen the script only, when Cate Blanchett was circling, but after enjoying himself on the drama The Trial of the Chicago 7, he decided to attach himself as a director as well over the summer.

After The Trial of the Chicago 7 bowed on Netflix in October, Being the Ricardos began to gain momentum with Kidman and Bardem quickly interested in the couple behind television’s first family. Deals still need to close for both actors, but even if and when they do, when production will start is still up in the air as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to push productions throughout the country.

After years as one of Hollywood’s most prolific screenwriters with such classics as A Few Good Men, Moneyball and his Oscar-winning The Social Network, Sorkin has found himself more and more behind the camera as well. His directing debut was the drama Molly’s Game starring Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba, and he followed that up with The Trial of the Chicago 7.

Bardem most recently starred in The Roads Not Taken and can next be seen in Legendary’s Dune. He also is set to play King Triton in Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid.