Film
Being the Ricardos
Being the Ricardos compresses one fraught week in the making of I Love Lucy into two hours of Sorkin's trademark overlapping argument — a HUAC accusation, a hidden pregnancy, and a marriage straining against the grind of a live sitcom taping. Kidman and Bardem play Ball and Arnaz as forces of will rather than impressions. It's for dialogue lovers and classic-Hollywood buffs more than for people hoping for warm Lucy nostalgia.
If you liked this
The Trial of the Chicago 72020
Sorkin directing his own script — the same overlapping, high-velocity argument-as-entertainment style, moved from a soundstage into a courtroom. Same needling wit, same moral urgency, different decade's paranoia.
But It's an ensemble courtroom drama, not a marriage under a microscope — if the Kidman-Bardem chemistry was the draw, that's absent here.

Trumbo2015no page yet
The Hollywood blacklist and HUAC paranoia from the writer's side — same era, same fear, same industry closing ranks against one of its own.
But Cranston's Dalton Trumbo is broader and more sentimental than Sorkin's spikier tone, and it's far more interested in principle than in a marriage.
Judy2019
A studio-system survivor grinding against the machine that made her famous — Zellweger's Garland is the same kind of high-wire act, embodying an icon rather than impersonating one.
But Musical numbers and a heavier melancholy; it's less procedural crisis-management, more slow-motion collapse.

The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
I Love Lucy1951
This is the show itself — the thing Sorkin's characters spend two hours arguing over. Watching an actual episode shows you the stakes the film can only describe secondhand.
The actual black-and-white episodes the film keeps arguing over — Ball's physical comedy is still helplessly funny seventy years on, and you'll finally see exactly what all the boardroom battles were fought to protect.
But Multi-camera sitcom rhythms and canned laughter feel genuinely old-fashioned now, and some of the gender politics haven't aged well.

More like this (8)
Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine2015
Sorkin's other portrait of a brilliant, difficult person, compressed into tense countdowns before big public moments — the same pressure-cooker structural trick.
But Cold tech-world setting instead of showbiz warmth, and Jobs is a much less sympathetic center than Ball.

The Aviator2004
Old Hollywood glamour, paranoia, and a genius wrestling with image and private demons, rendered in the same lush studio-era texture.
But Nearly three hours, more interested in decline than partnership, and far less dialogue-driven — this one is operatic rather than talky.

Marriage Story2019
A ferociously acted, dialogue-heavy portrait of two talented people trying to hold a partnership together while their careers pull at it.
But No showbiz backdrop or historical stakes here — just the raw domestic version, with none of the industry gossip angle.

Good Night, and Good Luck.2005
The same McCarthy-era dread, told in cool, restrained black-and-white, following a newsroom instead of a soundstage but with the identical fear of being named.
But Much quieter and more austere than Sorkin's zip, almost no romantic plot, all institutional nerve.

Bombshell2019
A slick, starry ensemble drama about a workplace crisis breaking in real time, with brisk energy and the same fascination with how institutions protect their stars.
But Very different subject and much more contemporary in feel — a tonal cousin rather than a twin.

Feud2017
A limited series soaked in the same era's glamour and cruelty, following two actresses whose rivalry was engineered as much by the industry as by themselves.
But Eight hours is a bigger commitment, and the tone tips further into camp and tragedy than Sorkin's tight two hours allow.

His Girl Friday1940
Sorkin's walking-and-talking, overlapping dialogue style descends directly from screwball comedies like this one — a professional couple sparring for control is the same engine, dressed as farce instead of drama.
Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell fire overlapping, breathless dialogue at each other as ex-spouses locked in a newsroom power struggle — the same collision of professional rivalry and romantic history, just in screwball key.
But 1940s slang and breakneck pacing can feel like a puzzle at first, and there's no historical crisis at stake — just a pure battle of wits.

Lucy and Desi2022no page yet
Same couple, same crises, opposite register — where Sorkin's script argues every point, this documentary just listens to the archival voices, the quiet, unadorned counterpart to the film's talkiness.
Amy Poehler's tender documentary uses home movies, real audio recordings, and interviews to tell the same marriage-and-career story Sorkin dramatizes, letting the real people's voices carry it instead of scripted debate.
But Much gentler and more sentimental, with none of Sorkin's argumentative snap — if you want conflict and wit, this plays it soft.
People
Cast
Nicole KidmanLucille Ball
Javier BardemDesi Arnaz
J.K. SimmonsWilliam Frawley
Nina AriandaVivian Vance
Tony HaleJess Oppenheimer
Alia ShawkatMadelyn Pugh
Jake LacyBob Carroll Jr.
Linda LavinOlder Madelyn Pugh
Ronny CoxOlder Bob Carroll
John RubinsteinOlder Jess Oppenheimer
Clark GreggHoward Wenke
Nelson FranklinJoe Strickland
Directing
- Aaron SorkinDirector
- Rebecca BoyleScript Supervisor
Writing
- Aaron SorkinWriter
Production
- Jim SmallAssistant Location Manager
- Francine MaislerCasting
- Kathy Driscoll-MohlerCasting
- David BloomfieldExecutive Producer
- Desi Arnaz Jr.Executive Producer
- Jenna BlockExecutive Producer
- Lauren LohmanExecutive Producer
- Lucie ArnazExecutive Producer
- Stuart M. BesserExecutive Producer
- Jason BlumenthalProducer
- Steve TischProducer
- Todd BlackProducer