Aaron Sorkin reveals that his upcoming Lucille Ball biopic, Being the Ricardos, has a total of four musical numbers. Known for his quick-witted characters and ping-pong dialogue, Sorkin is the inimitable screenwriter behind the Emmy Award-winning series The West Wing and the Academy Award-winning film The Social Network. He made his directorial debut in 2017 with Molly's Game and followed that up last year with another critical darling in The Trial of the Chicago 7. Now, Sorkin has opted for a Lucille Ball biopic for his third film as a writer/director.

Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem headline the cast of Being the Ricardos as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, the married couple who created and starred together as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo in the classic sitcom I Love Lucy. The film takes place over the course of one week of production on the show as a looming crisis threatens the couple's careers and marriage. Being the Ricardos also stars J.K. Simmons and Nina Arianda and William Frawley and Vivian Vance, the actors known for playing Fred and Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy.

Now, Aaron Sorkin is revealing some additional details about his upcoming film in an interview with Turner Classic Movies (via EW). After host Ben Mankiewicz asked about an unexpected challenge he faced while making Being the Ricardos, Sorkin revealed that there are four musical numbers in the film, which the director has never attempted before. Read what Sorkin had to say below:

There are four musical numbers in the film, and that's something I'd never done before, but we had a great musical director, great choreographer. The musical numbers are organic. It's not La La Land. It's rehearsals for Too Many Girls. It's at Ciro's where Desi and his orchestra are playing, that kind of thing.


Music has played a prominent role in both Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's lives, as well as Sorkin's, which is perhaps part of the reason why he wanted to tell their story on screen. Before creating their hit sitcom, Ball was a showgirl and Arnaz a famous bandleader and musician. The couple actually met during rehearsals for the 1940 musical Too Many Girls which Sorkin says will be one of the musical numbers recreated for his film, along with one at Ciro's Nightclub where Arnaz frequently performed. I Love Lucy also featured plenty of musical numbers, some of which will likely find their way into Being the Ricardos.

Sorkin, on the other hand, studied musical theater in college before writing his breakthrough play, A Few Good Men, which he eventually adapted into the 1992 film starring Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise. Though his roots are in musical theater, Sorkin has never directed a musical number before on the stage or screen, so it will be interesting to see how he fares when Being the Ricardos premieres this December.