Kim Novak pushes back on the casting
Kim Novak is not on board with Scandalous! and she is not being subtle about it.
In a recent interview with The Times of London, Novak criticized Sydney Sweeney’s casting in the upcoming film, which explores Novak’s 1950s relationship with Sammy Davis Jr. Colman Domingo is directing the project in his feature directorial debut, and David Jonsson will play Davis.
“I would never have approved,” Novak said of Sweeney playing her, adding that the Euphoria actor “sticks out so much above the waist.”
According to the paper, Novak’s main concern is that the film may lean too hard into the sexual side of the relationship instead of the broader connection she says they shared.
“There’s no way it wouldn’t be a sexual relationship because Sydney Sweeney looks sexy all the time,” Novak said. “She was totally wrong to play me.”
Reps for Sweeney did not respond to The Hollywood Reporter’s request for comment at the time of publication. A small pause for the usual Hollywood courtesy, which was not apparently returning the call.
Sweeney previously defended Domingo’s involvement
Sweeney, who is also producing Scandalous!, spoke last year with THR executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg on the Awards Chatter podcast about bringing Domingo onto the project.
She said the team had been considering different directors when she felt the film needed a different perspective.
“When I was putting the package together, we were circling different directors. There was one previously attached and I just felt like the story really needed to have a different voice,” she said. “The entire time I was like the only person who would really be able to tell this story and to the degree that it needs to be beautifully told is Colman Domingo.”
Sweeney said she reached out directly.
“So I called him up and I was like, ‘Hey, I don’t know if you even want to direct, but there’s a script that I’d really love to send you. And if you like it, it’s yours. If not, I won’t be offended,'” she said. “He read it within like a few hours and he called me back and he was like, ‘This is exactly what I’ve been telling my team I want to find.’ We’ve been putting it together and raising financing, it’s been a labor of love.”
A relationship, and a connection behind the scenes
When asked whether she had met Novak, Sweeney did not answer directly. Instead, she said Domingo and Novak have been in contact.
“Colman and her have a really beautiful relationship. They’ve been talking. We connected them, so it’s been really cool,” Sweeney said.
So while the film is still moving forward, its subject is already making clear she has opinions. In other words, the project has arrived at the classic Hollywood milestone of being discussed intensely before anyone has seen it.
