Written by By Han Tianjie, CNN Mexico City, Mexico
Starring Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem in their last movie as a couple have resulted in some landmark moments for the film industry.
Their roles in “And So It Goes” make them the best known couple ever to star in a movie together, according to IMDb.
‘They are going to drop like a stone’
The film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, tells the true story of couples who fall in love, fall out of love and eventually rekindle their romance.
One of the couples in the film, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, were married in 1958 in Las Vegas, and divorced in 1962, living apart for 10 years.
The story of their fraught and tumultuous marriage was portrayed in the 2015 biopic “I Love You, Man” starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, but the film focuses on different members of the couple, rather than the entire affair.
Kidman told AP that she, too, had reservations about taking on the role of Lucille Ball.
“It was very hard to understand what the trajectory of that relationship was and what it was about and how much of that was real and how much of that was invented. That was the trickiest thing,” she said.
Doubts about the script
Although she understood the attraction of a biopic on the golden couple, Kidman admitted to being skeptical of the script after reading it and sharing it with her close friends.
“They kept writing stories that made me laugh and make me laugh, but somehow they never grew and reached me,” she said.
The film does provide a glimpse into what it was like to marry the iconic TV star, a “throwback to a time where you felt entitled to get married but hadn’t had the education to know that you really couldn’t,” she said.
Such is the height of Hollywood at the time, having worked together on one show and performing live together in concert tours on stage, it is as if they had known each other their whole lives, she explained.
“I think when you’ve never had someone before you actually can rely on and sort of marry them in a way,” Kidman said.
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were married from 1954 to 1962. Credit: Courtesy TIFF
Starring with common ground
Sylvester Stallone and Demi Moore joined them at a press conference on Tuesday, including the award-winning duo who were true royals in the 80s. They played love interests to each other in the 1988 thriller “The Last Action Hero.”
Stallone described his best memories of working with Moore, and described their chemistry as “without a doubt one of the most spectacular things I’ve ever done.”
“I still remember thinking, wow, if this lady’s going to be my leading lady I want to make sure I pick the most romantic lady in the world to be my leading lady,” he added.