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Kim Novak and Sammy Davis’ relationship will be the subject of an upcoming film starring Sydney Sweeney and David Jonsson. The couple had a relationship in the 1950s that allegedly ended when Columbia Pictures’ Harry Cohn threatened to take out a hit on Davis. Novak admitted she has some concerns about the upcoming film, Scandalous!. She worries it will gloss over her personal connection with Davis in favor of lascivious details.
Kim Novak said she is worried about an upcoming Sydney Sweeney film
Sweeney and Jonsson star in the Coleman Domingo-directed Scandalous!, a film about the illicit romance between Novak and Davis. Novak admitted she has some concerns about the film’s title.
“I don’t think the relationship was scandalous,” she told The Guardian in a rare interview. “He’s somebody I really cared about.”
She added that she worries the film will focus more on the sexual nature of their relationship instead of the personal connection between them.
“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,” she said. “But I’m concerned they’re going to make it all sexual reasons.”
Scandalous! is currently set for a 2026 release date.
Kim Novak’s manager also spoke about the Sydney Sweeney film
Before Novak made her concerns known, her longtime manager Sue Cameron spoke about the importance that the film accurately depicting the relationship.
“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 told People. “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 gave a bit of insight into the relationship, which she said was partially driven by the “rebel” natures of Novak and Davis.
“Kim and Sammy met at a party and recognized they were both rebels and outsiders,” she said. “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.”
Cameron said she hopes people will watch the documentary Kim Novak’s Vertigo to gain an understanding of the actor’s life.
She spoke about the outside pressures on their relationship
Novak said her relationship with Davis drew much scrutiny and criticism, especially from Cohn. He worried people would boycott films starring a woman in an interracial relationship and ordered her to stop seeing Davis.
“[Cohn said he was] surrounded by all these men, including people in the Mob,” she said, per The Telegraph. “He told me that my career was in jeopardy if I continued to see Sammy.”
Novak said she pushed back against Cohn’s demands.
“Something inside of me rebelled when I was told not to see him,” she said. “I didn’t think it was anybody’s business. If he had been a bad man, a dangerous man, then the studio might have had reason – but simply because he was black?”
Cohn allegedly then told Davis that if he didn’t marry a Black woman as soon as possible, he would sic the Mob on him. This was effectively the end of their relationship.
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