EXCLUSIVE: Colman Domingo will make his film debut in Scandal, the fast-tracking Miramax drama about the secret love affair between movie star Kim Novak and singer/dancer and movie star Sammy Davis Jr. in 1957. Sidney Sweeney will play Novak and David Johnson. He will play with Davis Jr.
The plan is to shoot the movie — imagine a classic Hollywood take on Los Angeles — when Domingo and Sweeney complete the third season of their HBO series Euphoria.
Just as she did with the sleeper hit “Anyone But You,” Sweeney has been very active in putting this film together and will be producing alongside Tani Cohen and Bobby Roth, with John Levine executive producing. Matthew Fantasie wrote the screenplay.
Before becoming CEO of Miramax, John Glickman created the project at Panoramic, and has remained at the helm of it. Vertigo star and Rat Pack member Davis Jr. Novak was at the height of star power when they met while guests on the Steve Allen Show. They fell hard for each other, but as rumors spread, America’s rampant racism threatened to derail their careers. Novak faces the ire of Harry Cohn, the head of Columbia Pictures who had a contract with the actress. Their secret relationship became big news when, in early 1958, a Chicago columnist wrote a detailed account of their relationship, including their plans to marry. This is despite their denial. Nine days later, Davis Jr. married a black chorus girl named Loray White.
Domingo comes in famous roles in Rustin and Sing Sing, and he is also working on a film about Nat King Cole that he will star in and direct. He has directed TV shows in the past and is currently producing Tina Fey’s The Four Seasons on Netflix and has a Netflix limited series called The Madness. He also plays Joe Jackson in the Michael Jackson biopic. Lights Out: Nat King Cole, which Domingo wrote with director Patricia McGregor, will premiere at New York Theater Workshop in the spring, after premiering at the Geffen Theater in 2019. It is repped by WME and Liebman Entertainment, and Sweeney by Paradigm; CAA and United Agents actor Johnson, who stars in the industry film Alien: Romulus, will next star in Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk, based on the Stephen King novel.
