Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem reportedly in negotiations to play Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in new Aaron Sorkin film

Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem are reportedly in negotiations to play Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in the forthcoming biopic Being the Ricardos, which is slated to be directed by Aaron Sorkin.

Sorkin (Moneyball, The Social Network) has also written the film's screenplay and will direct the project for Amazon Studios and Escape Artists. No production start date has been announced yet, according to Deadline, given the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which has stalled a number of projects in Hollywood.

In terms of plot, Being the Ricardos takes place over the course of a production week on the famous 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy, beginning with the table read on Monday and moving through an audience shoot on Friday. Throughout the week, both Ball and Arnaz will “face challenges that could end their careers and their marriage”.

Escape Artists’ Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch are set to produce, and the film’s executive producers are Jenna Block, David Bloomfield of Escape Artists, Stuart Besser, Lucie Arnaz, Desi Arnaz, Jr, and Lauren Lohman.

Read More: Nicole Kidman: Her 10 best performances ranked, from Moulin Rouge to Big Little Lies

Real-life Hollywood couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz famously starred in I Love Lucy together as fictionalised versions of themselves. The two founded Desilu Productions in 1950, which initially was meant to produce a vaudeville-style touring act but evolved to become I Love Lucy, which originally aired on CBS from 1951 to 1957.

The couple filed for divorce in 1960 but remained friends until Arnaz's death in 1986. Ball, meanwhile, died a few years later in 1989.

Kidman recently starred in HBO’s The Undoing and Ryan Murphy’s Netflix musical The Prom.

Bardem, meanwhile, is set to star in Deni Villeneuve’s Dune and was also recently seen in The Roads Not Taken.