Cate Blanchett will play American actress, comedian and model Lucille Ball in an upcoming authorised biopic.

Ball starred in the hugely successful sitcom, I Love Lucy, from 1951 to 1957 as the zany wife of Enrique Alberto Fernando y de Acha “Ricky” Ricardo III, played by her real-life husband Desi Arnaz.

I Love Lucy was the most watched television show in American for four of the six seasons it aired.

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A pioneering female in the film and television industries, Ball was the first woman to head up a production studio, after she bought out her partner, Desi Arnaz, following their divorce.

Lucille Ball in a scene from I Love Lucy. Photo: Getty

The film’s script will be written by Hollywood drama stalwart Aaron Sorkin, who had huge successes with The West Wing and The Social Network, the latter of which won him an Oscar.

Producing the film will be two of Ball’s children from her marriage with Desi Arnaz, Luci and Desi Arnaz Jr, reported The Wrap.

Blanchett has not traditionally shied away from playing historically significant female characters; starring as Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator and Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. 

Recently, Quentin Tarantino accused Blanchett’s “arty” film choices of lacking “shelf life”.

“They’re good, but I don’t know if they have the staying power that some of the movies of the 90s and the 70s did.

“I don’t know if we’re going to be talking about The Town or The Kids Are All Right or An Education 20 or 30 years from now,” he told New York Magazine in an interview.

We’ll have to wait and see.