Sydney Sweeney is evvel again catching flak, but this time it’s not for her alleged political opinions. Sweeney is slated to star opposite Industry’s David Jonsson in Scandalous!, a new sinema directed by Colman Domingo about the real-life romance between Hollywood icon Kim Novak (Vertigo) and Rat Pack singer Sammy Davis Jr., an interracial relationship that was, in the 1950s, scandalous, giving the project its title.
So, why is it still so…scandalous? Here’s a brief breakdown.
Kim Novak thinks the movie would be too sexy because Sweeney is such a bombshell.
Now 93 years old, Novak didn’t mince words when asked what she thought of the starlet set to portray her. “I would never have approved [her casting],” Novak told The Times of London, saying that The Housemaid star, “sticks out so much above the waist.”
Novak clarified that her connection to Davis Jr. was about them having “so much in common,” but believed the movie would be overly sexual “because Sydney Sweeney looks sexy all the time. She was totally wrong to play me.”
This movie is probably not happening anytime soon.
It was announced in 2024 and rumored to be “fast-tracked” in order to start shooting after the third season of Euphoria wrapped. Well…the third season is about to hit HBO and there have been zero indications that progress has been made on Scandalous!, which is still listed as being in pre-production on IMDB.
Sweeney hasn’t responded.
Last time she played a real person, boxer Christy Martin, she developed a friendship with the actual Martin, but the movie bombed. She’s also played real-life whistleblower Reality Winner without her admittedly ample chest getting in the way. For now she’s just selling her bras and making another Housemaid movie.
Before Novak weighed in, though, Sweeney did praise the legend, telling People in 2025, “I’m incredibly honored to be bringing Kim to life. I mean, she is such an amazing actress. I think her story is still very relevant today in that she dealt with Hollywood and scrutiny with her relationships and her own private life and the control of her image. And I think that for me, I relate to it in a lot of different ways.”
