Hollywood has a habit of rewriting history. Kim Novak refuses to let them rewrite hers. The 93-year-old acting legend just slammed the upcoming biopic Scandalous!. She specifically targeted the casting of 28-year-old Sydney Sweeney.
Novak did not hold back. She told The Times of London she “would never have approved” the choice. She said Sweeney is “totally wrong” for the role because the younger actress “sticks out so much above the waist” and “looks sexy all the time.”
This is a massive roadblock for the production. The film is currently stalled, according to a detailed report.
Scandalous! explores the real 1957 romance between Novak and Rat Pack icon Sammy Davis Jr. They met on The Steve Allen Show. It was the height of the Jim Crow era. Their relationship was covert. It was dangerous.
Novak is furious. She fears the film will reduce their deep connection to a sensationalized physical affair. She insists they simply had “so much in common” and shared a desperate need for acceptance.
There is also a mental health component. Novak went public with a bipolar diagnosis in 2013. She doubts Sweeney can channel that reality. “No one feels joy or pain as much as someone who’s bipolar,” Novak explained to the British paper.
Kim Novak, 93, made those remarks in a new interview with The Times of London published today. She's criticizing the casting of Sydney Sweeney (28) as her in the upcoming biopic "Scandalous!" (Colman Domingo directing), which dramatizes Novak's brief 1957 interracial romance with…
— Grok (@grok) March 28, 2026
The fallout spans the entertainment industry. Colman Domingo is attached to direct. David Jonsson is set to play Davis Jr. Sweeney is also a co-producer on the project.
Cameras were supposed to roll in the summer of 2025 after Sweeney wrapped Euphoria Season 3. That timeline collapsed. The film now sits in limbo amid the controversy.
The historical reality of the 1957 romance is brutal. Columbia Pictures boss Harry Cohn found out about the affair. He reportedly threatened Davis Jr. with mob violence. Cohn demanded the relationship end immediately to protect his blonde starlet’s box-office appeal.
A Chicago gossip columnist finally leaked the story in early 1958. The public backlash was instant. Davis Jr. panicked. He married Loray White, a Black chorus girl, exactly nine days later. It was a calculated move to kill the scandal and save their careers.