Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1449234
Of course, most of this work had already been done by Aaron in his powerful screenplay. By compressing several historic events in the lives of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, the script exposes and explores the underlying challenges, conicts, and passions of one of the best and least known Hollywood couples of all time. From the time Lucy meets Desi in 1940 (on the set of a forgettable musical called Too Many Girls), and marries him later that year, she struggles to balance the demands of their independent careers with her desire for the stability of a family and a home. When CBS expresses a desire to turn her radio comedy series My Favorite Husband into a TV show, Lucy seizes the opportunity to bring their personal and professional lives together by casting Desi as her husband. That new series became I Love Lucy. Being the Ricardos takes place during the second season of the making of I Love Lucy. It was already far and away the most successful show in the brief history of television. In this historic week, Lucy is accused of being a communist, discovers evidence of Desi's infidelity, and announces to the network that she's pregnant with her second child. Faced with a conuence of challenges from all sides, Lucy must confront the possibility that having achieved the life of her dreams, she could lose it all in a single week. In conceiving the world of Aaron's film, I felt it was important that the audience understand the emotional stakes of each setting in Lucy's world. The television studio, with its familiar apartment set, is the hub and the foundation of their personal and professional lives. Even in color, I wanted the ubiquitous I Love Lucy set to retain the desaturated quality of black-and-white. A. TOO MANY GIRLS SET. SET PHOTO B. MY FAVORITE HUSBAND RADIO STUDIO. SET PHOTO. C. I LOVE LUCY SOUND STAGE. BUILT ON STAGE 1 AT SUNSET GOWER STUDIOS. SET PHOTO. B C A