Aaron Sorkin's new film Being the Ricardos has arrived with Nicole Kidman garnering some Oscar buzz with her role as Lucille Ball. While Ball's daughter, Lucie Arnaz, was happy with Kidman's casting, she was not the original choice. Earlier in the biopic's development, Cate Blanchett was attached to star as the I Love Lucy star. Arnaz had been fully on board with Blanchett's casting as her late mother, and as she now tells the New York Times, she describes feeling "devastated" over the actress exiting the project.

"It just took too long and we lost her,” Arnaz said, referring to scheduling projects forcing Blanchett out of the film. “I was devastated.”

It's not easy for Arnaz to picture just anyone playing her mother well, and she started to lose hope in Being the Ricardos once Blanchett was out. She didn't take to any other of the names suggested for the part, losing interest in the project entirely, until the name Nicole Kidman came up. Suddenly, Arnaz saw the potential with the new lead star, and she was back on board with the filmmakers landing Kidman for the role.

"I thought that’s good — we should only be looking at Australian actresses for this,” Arnaz said.

This isn't to say that the production was smooth sailing from there. Kidman's casting was not quite as well-received by many I Love Lucy fans and they let their opinions be heard on social media. There were many fans in particular who wanted to see Debra Messing get the part instead. While Kidman isn't the type to look herself up on the internet, the actress did hear about the backlash, and it had her reconsidering taking on the Lucille Ball role.

“I’m not on the internet and I definitely don’t Google myself... But things trickle through," Kidman explains.

Director Aaron Sorkin vehemently defended Kidman's casting, reminding the fans that this was a dramatic film with Kidman playing Lucille Ball and not Lucy Ricardo. He also spoke with Kidman personally along with the Being the Ricardos producers to help make her more comfortable with the role. While there was some initial backlash over Kidman's casting, it's all working out, given the chatter that Kidman could be nominated for an Academy Award for the film. Lucie Arnaz and Sorkin clearly saw this potential from the very start.

Being the Ricardos goes behind the scenes of I Love Lucy to reveal an inside peek at the complex relationship between the show's lead stars, Lucille Ball (Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem). The film also stars J. K. Simmons as William Frawley, Nina Arianda as Vivian Vance, Tony Hale as Jess Oppenheimer, Alia Shawkat as Madelyn Pugh, and Jake Lacy as Bob Carroll. While reviews have been fairly mixed, most critics seem to agree that Kidman was fantastic with her portrayal as the comedy legend.

Being the Ricardos was released in theaters on Dec. 10 before making its streaming debut on Dec. 21. You can watch the film now on Prime Video.