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Kim Novak has some qualms about an upcoming biopic based on her life.
Scandalous!, starring Sydney Sweeney and David Jonsson, is currently in preproduction and will follow the real-life story of the 1950s romance between the actress, 92, and Sammy Davis Jr.
“I don’t think the relationship was scandalous,” Novak told The Guardian for a new interview published on Saturday, Aug. 30.
“He’s somebody I really cared about,” she continued of the late musician, who died at age 64 in 1990. “We had so much in common, including that need to be accepted for who we are and what we do, rather than how we look. But I’m concerned they’re going to make it all sexual reasons.”
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Novak’s longtime manager, Sue Cameron, previously stressed the importance of getting their story right when speaking to PEOPLE exclusively in November 2024.
“Kim and I have been aware of at least four unauthorized and unapproved projects in development about the Kim Novak and Sammy Davis affair,” she said at the time.
“She never wanted to get married back then — to anyone. It was a romance based on love, respect, the things they shared in common,” Cameron added.
She continued, “Kim and Sammy met at a party and recognized they were both rebels and outsiders. They both had strong ties to their families and spent time with close relatives in both Hollywood and Chicago. In truth, she hoped their relationship could help break down people’s racial bias.”
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Novak and Davis’ relationship ended due to external pressure — including from the head of Columbia Pictures, Harry Cohn, who threatened Davis with a mob hit when news of the romance broke in 1957.
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Scandalous!, from Miramax, will be directed by Colman Domingo, marking the actor’s directorial debut.
“Hopefully we’ll make a beautiful, sweet film that’s really about the possibility of love, but under many eyes,” he told Deadline of the project in November 2024.
“Trying to have privacy, trying to have love, trying to have a life. And I think it’s something that Sydney and I both know very well. We’re trying to advocate for your humanity again in your life,” Domingo added, referring to Sweeney, 27.
Scandalous! does not yet have a release date.
