EXCLUSIVE: Oscar nominee Colman Domingo‘s directorial debut Scandalous!, which is set to star Sydney Sweeney as Kim Novak and David Jonsson as Sammy Davis Jr., is heading to the Cannes market for international sales with Patrick Wachsberger’s 193.
193 is handling international sales for Miramax. The film will chart the clandestine love affair between film star Novak and singer/dancer and actor Davis Jr.
The movie will chart the explosive true story of a forbidden romance at the height of Hollywood’s Golden Age. In 1957, Novak (Sweeney), one of the biggest box office stars of her time and the luminous face of Vertigo, falls for Davis Jr. (Jonsson), the multi-talented Rat Pack sensation who defied boundaries of race and fame. Their affair, unfolding in the shadows of Jim Crow America, sparks a firestorm. With the Mafia circling, studio heads panicking, and even Frank Sinatra walking a tightrope between friendship and fallout, the stakes skyrocket. What begins as passion becomes peril.
As we revealed last fall, much the way she did with the sleeper hit Anyone But You, Emmy winner Sweeney was active in putting this one together and she will be a producer along with Tani Cohen and Bobby Rock. Matthew Fantaci wrote the script.
Before he became Miramax CEO, Jon Glickman originated the project at Panoramic, and remained high on it. Raul Domingo will executive produce as will Glickman on behalf of Miramax. Going forward, we may see more of Miramax working with third parties for their international sales at markets as they focus attention on production and broader deals.
Domingo is coming off acclaimed turns in Rustin and Sing Sing, and he’s also working on a film about Nat King Cole that he would star in and direct. He has directed TV in the past and he’s currently in production on Netflix and Tina Fey’s The Four Seasons and he has the Netflix limited series The Madness. He also plays Joe Jackson in the Michael Jackson biopic Michael.
Sweeney is in production on the third season of Euphoria and has movies The Housemaid and the Christy Martin biopic in post. BAFTA-winning Brit Jonsson is best known for hit series Industry as well as movies Rye Lane and Alien: Romulus.
