Colman Domingo will make his directorial debut with a movie about Kim Novak and Sammy Davis Jr.’s covert love affair.
The Oscar-winning actor has tapped his Euphoria co-star Sydney Sweeney to play Vertigo actress Novak alongside English actor David Jonsson as the Rat Pack member in Scandalous.
Domingo, Sweeney and Jonsson all confirmed the news by sharing Deadline’s article on their respective Instagram Stories.
Novak and Davis Jr. became romantically involved in 1957 after meeting on a variety show. However, Harry Cohn, the Columbia Pictures boss who had Novak under contract, feared that their interracial relationship could hurt the studio.
According to various reports, Cohn hired organised crime figures to threaten Davis Jr. into breaking off the romance and the singer briefly married Black dancer Loray White to protect himself.
Sweeney, who put the project together much like her films Anyone But You and Immaculate, will produce Scandalous. The movie will go into production in Los Angeles once both she and Domingo wrap season three of Euphoria next year. After many delays, the TV show will begin filming in January.
The Sing Sing actor, will direct the film from a script by Matthew Fantaci, has a lot of other projects in the works. He recently finished playing Joe Jackson in the Michael Jackson biopic Michael and he is currently shooting Tina Fey’s TV show The Four Seasons. The star is also developing a film about Nat King Cole that he will star in and direct.
