Kidman and Bardem Star as Lucy and Ricky on Amazon

An inside look at Lucy and Ricky, starring two Oscar-winners

Once best known for creating such TV series as The West Wing and The Newsroom, writer-director Aaron Sorkin has more recently been making an impact as a film director, helming Molly’s Game and last year’s Oscar-nominated The Trial of the Chicago 7.

In his latest, Being the Ricardos, Sorkin delves into the private lives of television’s most iconic sitcom spouses, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, exploring the vast divide between their turbulent real-life relationship and the wacky antics viewers saw from Lucy and Ricky Ricardo on I Love Lucy.

Sorkin didn’t skimp when it came to casting, tapping Oscar-winners Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem to portray the legendary showbiz couple, with J.K. Simmons as William Frawley (a.k.a. Lucy‘s Fred Mertz) and Nina Arianda as Vivian Vance, who played Ethel Mertz.

In addition, Alia Shawkat, Jake Lacy and Tony Hale portray I Love Lucy writers Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll and Jess Oppenheimer, respectively.

The film follows the spouses through one particularly tense week of production on I Love Lucy. How tense? Not only is Ball hit with accusations of being a Communist, she must also contend with her husband’s flagrant infidelity and her own increasingly strained relationship with co-star Vance, all while working to bring a new episode of the beloved sitcom to the air.

As Sorkin told The Hollywood Reporter, the film’s focus isn’t on their iconic sitcom, but on how Ball’s exploding stardom contributed to the couple’s fraying relationship.

“Desi came from a culture that had a very narrow definition of manhood,” Sorkin explained, “and as hard as he tried, and as much as he loved Lucy and really admired and respected her talent, it was difficult for him to be second banana.”

Being the Ricardos begins streaming Tuesday, December 21st on Amazon Prime Video