Casting Call: I Love Lucy
In which we suggest who should star in the next big adaptation, remake, or historical film.
The queen bee of the mid-twentieth century sitcom, Lucille Ball was nominated for 13 Emmys and won four of them. She carved out a place for funny women in television during her run on I Love Lucy alongside her then-husband Desi Arnaz, following her performance with two more series in the ’60s, The Lucille Ball Show and The Lucy Show. She continued working in Hollywood until her sudden death in 1989, helming the Desilu production company that she started with Arnaz (which produced both Star Trek and Mission Impossible) between 1962 and 1968.
In the nearly 30 years since her death, two biopics about Ball have been made—Lucy and Desi, in 1991, and Lucy, in 2003. Aaron Sorkin will make his contribution to the actress and comedian’s legacy with his own upcoming project, which will center on Ball’s 20-year marriage to her co-star and partner in crime. And earlier this week, Sorkin’s project found its Lucy—Cate Blanchett was announced in the lead role, marking her first time working with the Oscar-winning screenwriter. Neither celebrity is a stranger to the biopic: Blanchett played Katharine Hepburn in the Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator and Queen Elizabeth I in the 1998 film Elizabeth; Sorkin won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Social Network and his Steven Jobs biopic will premiere later this year.
The rest of the cast has yet to be announced, and the question on everyone’s lips right now should be “Who will play Ethel?” We’ve got a few ideas for Ethel and Desi and the rest of the I Love Lucy crew to reincarnate the beloved sitcom.
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