Actor Colman Domingo has received acclaim for his leading role in Rustin and his appearances in Euphoria and Fear the Walking Dead.
One his upcoming challenges will be directing his first feature film, and it’s a story about two Hollywood screen legends.
Domingo will be behind the camera for Scandalous, which tells the story of a love affair between Kim Novak and Sammy Davis Jr.
The actors reportedly fell in love after meeting on The Steve Allen Show in 1957, but studio executives worked hard to keep their relationship a secret at a time where racial discrimination and prejudice was widespread in some parts of the USA.
In 1958 a gossip columnist wrote about the relationship, and both stars denied there was any truth to the story.
A BBC documentary previously alleged that Columbia Pictures founder Harry Cohn arranged for mobster to physically threaten Davis over the relationship, ordering him to marry a black girl as soon as possible.
Days later Davis wed chorus girl Loray White. They’d only ever been on a date twice and he reportedly paid her thousands of dollars to be his wife, with the promise they would divorce a year later. The couple never lived together and were divorced in early 1959.
Davis passed away in 1990 aged just 64. Kim Novak is now 91 and since she retired from acting in the early 1990s, she’s pursued other creative endevours including photography, painting and poetry. Back in June she appeared at the opening of an exhibition of her works.
Domingo’s film charting the doomed relationship will see Sydney Sweeny portraying Novak, while British actor David Jonsson will play Sammy Davis Jr.
Scandalous is expected to start filming after Domingo and Sweeney wrap up filming on the third season of Euphoria.
