Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty; Karwai Tang/WireImage Kim Novakisn't totally confident in the new biopic about her. TheVertigostar, 92, recently shared her thoughts onScandalous,the forthcoming film that will dramatize her controversial romance with singer Sammy Davis Jr. in the late 1950s, expressing she was worried the film's title isn't accurate. "I don't think the relationship was scandalous," the actress toldThe Guardian. "He's somebody I really cared about. 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." Jacopo Raule/FilmMagic Novak is anxious that the film, which will starSydney Sweeneyas her, will reduce her relationship with Davis to simple lust. "I'm concerned they're going to make it all sexual reasons," she said of the movie's possible depiction of the onetime couple. The 1957 romance between Davis and Novak caused significant controversy due to racist opposition to mixed-race relationships at the time — only 4 percent of Americans approved of interracial marriages in aGallup poll conducted the following year, andLovingv.Virginia, the Supreme Court case that federally legalized interracial marriage, did not occur until 1967. Davis told his friend and biographer Burt Boya that he had a hidden agenda while pursuing Novak, reportedly saying he wanted "to get the whitest, the most famous chick in the world and just show 'em" after persistent racism, according toHitchcock's Blondesbiographer Laurence Leamer. NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty However, Davis did genuinely fall for Novak, and the media fallout from their relationship only made Novak's feelings stronger. "Something inside of me rebelled when I was told not to see him," Leamer quotes Novak as saying. "I didn't think it was anybody's business." Whether the complexity of the relationship makes it onto the screen inScandalousremains to be seen. The film will be helmed by Sweeney'sEuphoriacostarColman Domingo, making his directorial debut. David Jonsson, best known for his work on HBO'sIndustryand in the sci-fi sequelAlien: Romulus, is set to play Davis. Alena Zakirova/Getty; Johnny Nunez/WireImage Sweeneypaid tribute to the actressat the Met Gala in May, donning a black Miu Miu dress akin to one Novak wore in 1967'sThe Legend of Lylah Clare. Domingo served as the co-chair of the gala this year. Want more movie news? Sign up forfree newsletterto get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.Entertainment Weekly's Novak is set to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Venice International Film Festival on Monday. A documentary about her life,Kim Novak's Vertigo, will premiere on the same day. Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly
