Lucille Ball And Desi Arnaz's Story Is Being Revisited In "Lucy And Desi," And Here Are 21 Reasons Why You Should Watch The Documentary

If you love Lucy, you'll probably love this documentary.

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were the original Hollywood power couple, and their work both on and off-screen left a major impact on the entertainment industry.

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When their most famous project, I Love Lucy, began, Lucy and Desi founded their own production company and took ownership of the series. The two made business moves that introduced broadcast syndication, and later sold the rights to I Love Lucy to buy facilities from RKO Studios, where television hits were filmed.

They also have an interesting backstory on how they met, fell in love, and started a family before their marriage eventually ended.

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Lucy and Desi first encountered each other on the set of Too Many Girls, got married six months after their meeting, and later had two children, Lucie and Desi Jr. They briefly separated in 1944, but decided to patch things up and pursue work opportunities that would allow them to be around each other more often, which led to I Love Lucy. Their marriage would end in 1960, when Lucy filed for divorce.

A new documentary, Lucy and Desi, which provides an intimate account of the love story and career journeys of the two entertainment legends, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

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The documentary will be available on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, March 4, and these are 21 reasons you should get excited to watch Lucy and Desi.

1. Lucy and Desi's children are included in the project.

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The documentary includes interviews with numerous people who met Lucy and Desi in real life, including their two children.

"I think [Lucy and Desi is] going to be amazing. From what I've heard so far, and what I've seen them do, they're really pulling out every stop," Lucie Arnaz- Luckinbill told Palm Springs Life in 2021. Both she and her brother, Desi Arnaz Jr., are featured in the doc.

2. More archival footage, photos, and audio are used in Lucy and Desi than any other previous homage to the famous couple.

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"They are digging deeper than anybody I've ever known. I've opened up the archives to them pretty much more than I've ever given access to anybody, just because I trust these people," Lucie said of the crew behind Lucy and Desi. "I met with them a lot before I said yes, and then I went, 'Okay, take it all. I trust you.'"

3. Amy Poehler directed the documentary.

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This is the sixth time Amy has taken on a directorial position. She previously directed an episode of Broad City, three episodes of Parks and Recreation, and the 2021 film, Moxie.

4. It includes a look at the full timeline of Lucy's and Desi's lives.

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Amy made sure the documentary would cover an extended timeline of Lucy and Desi's story, rather than just focusing on the start and finish of their lives.

"We tried to tell their story in three acts," Amy told IndieWire. "We're really obsessed with the beginnings [of things], and we really wanna know how things end, and a lot of life takes place in the middle, which is where all the good stuff is," she added.

5. It's a new, fresh telling of the famous couple's story.

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This isn't the first time Lucy and Desi's story has been told by filmmakers; Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie, another documentary on the couple, was directed and produced by Lucie and released in 1993. In addition, the biopic starring Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos, provided a depiction of their lives in 2021.

Lucy and Desi reintroduces the world to the couple through a new, unfiltered lens.

6. It dives into Lucy and Desi's impactful founding of Desilu Productions.

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Together, Lucy and Desi created Desilu Productions, a company that made legendary television shows like Star Trek and I Love Lucy, and provided the filming location for hits such as The Andy Griffith Show. Some moments in the Lucy and Desi trailer showcase this segment of their careers.

Lucy would later become the first woman to oversee a Hollywood studio when, in 1962, she bought out Desi's financial interest in the company. 

7. Entertainment industry greats are interviewed in the film.

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Bette Midler, Carol Burnett, Charo, and Norman Lear are a few people who are interviewed in Lucy and Desi. 

"You realized that women could do this too," Bette said in the trailer for the film when discussing Lucy's leadership role in creating and running Desilu Productions with Desi.

"She was fearless," Carol said of Lucy.

8. Ron Howard produced the documentary and is the one who approached Amy to direct it.

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Ron served as an executive producer of Lucy and Desi as his company, Imagine Documentaries, spearheaded the film. In her interview with IndieWire, Amy said Ron first presented her with the opportunity to direct the project.

This venture is a full circle moment for Ron, who starred as Opie Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show, which filmed at Desilu Studios.

9. It shows the human sides of Lucy and Desi.

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"I think this was a rare example where the subjects that we were talking about were really well-known, and we saw their work and we kind of forgot that they are real people," Amy told Variety in an interview from January 2022. "One of the goals was to use Lucy and Desi's relationship as a structure in which to remind people that, when you use terms like icons and legends ... there are people behind it, and also just to remind people that Lucy and Ricky were characters and Lucille and Desi were people."

10. Much of the documentary is the couple's story told in their own words.

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In her IndieWire interview, Amy said a lot of the audio used in the film was taken from an archived interview Lucy did for the Ladies' Home Journal, while Desi's audio was from the spoken version of his memoir and personal recordings. 

"It's really valuable because Lucy talking about herself tells you stuff, even what she doesn't talk about," Amy said. "It was some intimate moments and all of it access was provided by their estate and by Lucie Arnaz-Luckinbill, which was a huge treasure trove to find."

11. It reminds audiences of the importance of representation.

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"It would be great if people realized how incredibly ahead of their time both Lucy and Desi were and how the characters of Lucy and Ricky pervaded American culture in a way that is really significant," Amy said when discussing what she'd want audiences to take away from the documentary. 

Cuban playwright Eduardo Machado is interviewed in the film, who revealed the significance of Desi's character to audience members who could resonate with his background.

"[Eduardo] ... talks about how important it was for him when he arrived in the United States to see a beautifully-dressed, well-spoken [Cuban] man who was the boss of his work and his family on TV," Amy said.

12. It goes beyond comedy.

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"I really wanted to try and stay away from [interviewees] being a bunch of modern, funny people talking about how funny those two were because we know that already," Amy told Variety. "And also, that just then shuttles them back into this abstract world of icon, which is not, I think, why people want to relate to a story."

13. Grammy and Emmy-nominated composer David Schwartz scored Lucy and Desi.

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David, who has composed for projects like Arrested Development, Trading Places and The Good Place, created music for Lucy and Desi. 

"I think it's a really interesting story ... even big Lucy fans will find things they didn't know, and ... I loved writing the music. It was a great experience," David said in an interview on The Jan Price Show.

14. It's relatable and will make you think about your own path in life.

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One moment in Lucy and Desi shows how, towards the ends of Desi's life, he, Lucy, and Lucie watched episodes of I Love Lucy and laughed together while he was in the hospital. This was a heartfelt memory in their lives that Amy says audience members can resonate with as they navigate their own journeys.

"I mean, that [moment] is ... that's it. We're only here for a short time, right? So I love the humanness of that, the realness of that I think people can really relate to no matter what they do or have done in their lives," Amy said.

15. It explains how Lucy and Desi brought out the best in each other in their careers.

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The documentary covers the fact that, when they first met, Lucy and Desi were not fully satisfied with their individual careers. Not only did they find love together, but their union brought out their greatest professional potential for either of them.

"There was a frustration career-wise ... for both Lucy and Desi, and sometimes frustration is a great motivation," Amy told IndieWire. "So they were not quite getting their itch scratched in what they were doing, and they knew they were capable of doing more, and when they met each other, they saw that in each other. Which is really ... kind of what you hope for in any relationship, is somebody sees the possibility of you, the width and breadth of you and also maybe what you have yet to do."

16. The documentary recognizes how Lucy and Desi shared love even after their separation.

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Although they divorced in 1960, following a 20-year marriage, Lucy and Desi were still close until Desi's passing in 1986. This lifelong support system served as a focal point for Amy as she directed Lucy and Desi. 

"One of the favorite things about working on this documentary was that, [Lucy and Desi's] relationship is a symbol for how people can come in and out of your lives in different ways," Amy said in her Variety interview. "Much like how the show continues to stay in this American psyche, Lucy and Desi really stayed in each other's lives and hearts and worked together, and were with each other until the very end."

17. It doesn't buy into the idea that Lucy's iconic comedic performances were effortless.

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"There is this version of the way people in general approach women in art ... which is that they're just naturally good at things, like ... they fell into a patch of clover and they're just like, how lucky and natural," Amy said.

Director of archives at the National Comedy Center's Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum, Laura LaPlaca, and Journey Gunderson, the executive director of the center, are featured in Lucy and Desi. They speak of how Lucy's comedic abilities, contrary to how they may appear, required a lot of dedicated work.

"[Laura and Journey] ... kept perspective about where [Desi and Lucy] were in time, and also how Lucy herself did not consider herself a typically naturally funny person, so she worked really, really hard at it. Music, comedy, those are disciplines where ... if they're done right, they seem easy to do," Amy added. 

18. Its editor, Robert A. Martinez, has received an Emmy nomination for his work.

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In 2021, Robert, who edited Lucy and Desi, was nominated for an Emmy in the category Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program for his editing of another doc, The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.

19. Lucy and Desi highlights how the two changed the way television is produced.

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Although not always given credit for his behind-the-scenes work, Desi was instrumental in producing I Love Lucy. Lucy was also dynamic in her role as a co-creator of the show. The documentary gives credit to the couple for their indelible contributions to the medium of television.

"The way we make TV is very similar to how Desi first shaped it. He was a huge influencer and giant boss, and a very good boss who knew how to hire the right people and how to delegate," Amy said. "And you know, both him and Lucy...did not look like the faces of gatekeepers in the 1950s. And his story...is often, at best minimized, at worst sometimes treated like [he was] lucky to be on the show, and he made the show. I mean, he created the show with [Lucy]."

20. Moments in Lucy and Desi revisit how Lucy had to navigate male chauvinism in Hollywood.

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"We have footage in the film of Lucy after 30 years in the business...being told by one of the lighting guys how lights work," Amy said. "And you can tell she's just like, 'I don't have time for this.' But there was no term 'mansplaining' ... Lucy had to straddle a ton of male egos and fragility to get anything done."

21. And, lastly, the documentary remembers how Lucy and Desi fought to play a couple in I Love Lucy, which led to the first time an interracial couple was shown on a television series.

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The documentary includes how Lucy and Desi initially faced opposition due to their differing ethnic backgrounds when they wanted to bring their marriage dynamic into I Love Lucy.

"[Lucy] insisted on Desi, her real-life husband, being her husband in the I Love Lucy show," Amy told Variety. "A lot of people thought, well, no one's going to buy that these two people are married, and Lucy and Desi were like, 'But we are [married].' Even that is, at the time, so groundbreaking. I think people really take that in stride now, but it was so huge that they both insisted on that."