Sydney Sweeney Biopic Backfires As Kim Novak Slams It
What was meant to be a star-making tribute for Sweeney is now getting ripped apart by the very woman it was based on.
Well, this is awkward: the woman at the center of Colman Domingo's biopic 'Scandalous!' is not thrilled with... the scandal of it all. Kim Novak, who the film is about and who is played by Sydney Sweeney, just pumped the brakes on the movie's framing before a trailer even exists.
Novak says the title misses the point
In a new interview with The Guardian, Novak, 92, said the title 'Scandalous!' does not reflect how she remembers her relationship with Sammy Davis Jr. She cares about him, felt they shared a need to be accepted for who they were rather than how they looked, and worries the film might flatten that into something purely sexual.
'I don't think the relationship was scandalous.'
The relationship was kept secret at the time and, per The Guardian's reporting, it reportedly ended after Columbia Pictures boss Harry Cohn threatened Davis Jr. with mob violence, arguing that Novak being involved with a Black man was 'bad for business.' Actor David Jonsson is playing Davis Jr. in the film.
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Old Hollywood control issues, explained
Novak signed with Columbia in the early 1950s, and Cohn did what studio heads did back then: rebrand stars to fit a look. She says she was pushed to change her name and her appearance, down to swapping in a Joan Crawford mouth and Jean Harlow hair. By the time you left the makeup chair, it barely felt like you anymore. Novak says she fought to hang on to her own identity. It is not clear yet if a version of Cohn is part of the movie's storyline.
What we know about 'Scandalous!'
- Director: Colman Domingo
- Writer: Matthew Fantaci
- Cast: Sydney Sweeney as Kim Novak; David Jonsson as Sammy Davis Jr.
- Premise: Centers on Novak's relationship with Davis Jr., which the film's title frames as 'Scandalous!'
- Status: No release date yet
- Wild card: Unclear if Harry Cohn appears in the plot
Where Novak landed
Novak is best known for Picnic (1955), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), Vertigo (1958), and Kiss Me, Stupid (1964). She later stepped away from Hollywood for a quieter life that revolves around painting and raising horses. If nothing else, she wants the movie to see the person she was — not just the studio gloss or a splashy title with an exclamation point.