Nicole Kidman Almost Dropped Out of 'Being the Ricardos' Following Casting Backlash

Nicole Kidman is addressing the backlash surrounding her playing Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos.

While promoting the upcoming movie, the 54-year-old actress stopped by Live with Kelly and Ryan where she revealed the public’s backlash over her playing the iconic comedian nearly drove her to back out of the movie.

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“When the reality of playing [Lucille] hit me, I went, ‘What I have said yes to?’” Nicole recalled. “To which I then went, ‘Oh no, I’m not right. Everyone thinks I’m not right, so I’m going to try to sidestep this.’”

She continued, “The producer Todd Black and [director] Aaron Sorkin were both like, ‘Absolutely not.’ I was in Australia and they were like, ‘No.’ And thank God, because then I was so grateful because I got to fall in love with her.”

Despite the public’s backlash, Lucille and Desi Arnaz‘s daughter Lucie Arnaz praised Nicole‘s portrayal of her late mom.

“Nicole did a spectacular job,” Lucie said. “…what she did was astounding. She’s got such poise and class.”

Being the Ricardos, which also stars Javier Bardem as Desi, premieres theatrically December 10 and will stream on Amazon Prime Video starting on December 21. Check out the trailer here!