Amazon Prime's upcoming documentary Lucy and Desi offers a rare inside look at TV's favorite couple, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Directed and produced by Amy Poehler, the film includes interviews with Lucie Arnaz, Bette Midler, Carol Burnett, Laura LaPlaca, Eduardo Macado, Charo, Journey Gunderson, Gregg Oppenheimer, David Daniels, Normal Lear, Desi Arnaz, Jr., and more. Get a sneak peek of the film in the trailer above. Lucy and Desi premieres on Prime Video March 4.
It's a good moment to be a fan of Lucy and Desi; Aaron Sorkin's Being the Ricardos premiered in movie theatres and on Prime Video late last year, with Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem inhabiting the I Love Lucy stars, both earning Academy Award nominations in the process. Broadway vet J.K. Simmons, playing Fred Mertz William Frawley, also received an Oscar nod, playing opposite Broadway favorite Nina Arianda as the Ethel Mertz-creating Vivian Vance.
READ: Nina Arianda and J.K. Simmons on Finding Fred and Ethel’s Stage Roots for Being the Ricardos
Poehler's documentary explores the passionate but tumultuous relationship between Ball and Arnaz, which begins on the set of the Hollywood adaptation of the Broadway musical Too Many Girls, in which Arnaz recreated his performance from the Rodgers and Hart musical's original Broadway production. The pair would go on to create the modern three-camera sitcom in I Love Lucy, with Arnaz in particular devising a groundbreaking system and formula that is still very much in use today.
The film draws on hours of never-before-heard audio recordings of Ball and Arnaz themselves speaking about their lives, along with interviews from some of their contemporaries and other personalities that cite both as influences. Notable to theatre fans will be Burnett, who famously counted Ball as a close friend and fierce supporter; Hello, Dolly! Tony winner Midler; and Broadway alum Arnaz, the couple's daughter.
