Cate Blanchett Cast as Lucille Ball in 'Lucy and Desi' Biopic From Aaron Sorkin
Two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett is poised to star as the Hollywood legend Lucille Ball for her next project. Called "Lucy and Desi," the biopic will be written by Emmy winner Aaron Sorkin.
Amazon Studios will produce "Lucy and Desi" which will likely be streamed on its platform. The movie will center on the marriage and business relationship of Ball and Desi Arnaz.
Production has not yet picked out who will star as Desi alongside Blanchett but Javier Bardem is reportedly the first choice.
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Blanchett and Sorkin, who wrote films like "A Few Good Men" and "The Social Network," have had an interest in doing Ball's biopic since 2015 when the project was still with Sony.
Ball and Arnaz created and starred in the highly successful comedy series "I Love Lucy" that aired on CBS from 1951 to 1957. The couple was married for two decades and remained solid business partners in Hollywood despite their divorce.
"We decided that instead of divorce lawyers profiting from our mistakes, we'd profit from them," Ball once said in an interview.
Ball, a Hollywood icon, became the first female star to have a popular TV series in a major studio. She was also considered as a shrewd business leader in the industry after ensuring that the rights to "I Love Lucy" and her other projects remained with her production company.
"Lucy and Desi" will be more of a drama film than comedy though. The couple's children, Lucie Luckinbill and Desi Arnaz Jr., are also involved in the production.
The news comes as Blanchett, like Ball, stamps another first in Hollywood. She is Marvel's first female villain via "Thor: Ragnarok," which will hit theaters on Nov. 3.
"I didn't realize... I was inhabiting the first female Marvel villain onscreen," Blanchett told E! News. "There's been many, many, many [female villains] in the comic books, but they've been a little tardy in bringing them to the screen."
