Lucille Ball biopic starring Cate Blanchett lands at Amazon

Amazon Studios has acquired the Lucille Ball biopic Lucy and Desi, with Oscar winner Cate Blanchett attached to star.

Aaron Sorkin has written the script. Escape Artists is the production company with Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch producing.

The producers are seeking a star to play Ball’s husband Desi Arnaz as well as Vivian Vance and William Frawley, who played  Fred and Ethel Mertz in the landmark sitcom I Love Lucy.

The project attracted Blanchett and Sorkin two years ago. Lucy and Desi will center on Ball’s 20-year marriage to Desi Arnaz. She eloped with the Cuban bandleader in 1940, and the two created the massively successful sitcom I Love Lucy in 1951 through their Desilu Productions. She won four Emmys for the role.

Ball also gave birth to her daughter in 1951 and to her son in 1953. Ball and Arnaz divorced in 1960, and Ball began running Desilu Productions in 1962. She died in 1989.

Blanchett has won Academy Awards for The Aviator and Blue Jasmine.

The Lucy and Desi project also involves the two children from the marriage — Lucie Luckinbill and Desi Arnaz Jr. — and includes rights to the use of memoirs written by both Ball and Arnaz. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

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