Kim Novak says Sydney Sweeney is ‘totally wrong’ to play her in upcoming film

Kim Novak is speaking out about the upcoming drama Scandalous, saying she would have “never approved” the film about her relationship with Sammy Davis Jr., which is set to star Sydney Sweeney as Novak.

Novak told The Times of London in an interview that was published on Friday that Sweeney “sticks out so much above the waist.”

She also expressed concern that the film would focus too heavily on the sexual side of her relationship with Davis Jr. rather than their personal connection.

“There’s no way it wouldn’t be a sexual relationship because Sydney Sweeney looks sexy all the time,” Novak said. “She was totally wrong to play me.”

ABC News has reached out to Sweeney’s representative, but did not hear back immediately.

The project was first reported by Deadline in October 2024, with Colman Domingo attached to direct and Miramax developing the film. In addition to Sweeney, David Jonsson is set to star as Davis Jr.

In contrast to Novak’s comments, Sweeney told People in October 2025 that she is “incredibly honored” to take on the role.

“I think her story is still very relevant today in that she dealt with Hollywood and scrutiny with her relationships and her own private life and the control of her image,” she said at the time. “And I think that for me, I relate to it in a lot of different ways.”

Novak and Davis Jr. first met in 1956 when they both appeared as guests on The Steve Allen Show.

Their relationship became public in 1958 after a Chicago newspaper columnist reported on their romance and suggested they might marry, according to Hitchcock’s Blondes: The Unforgettable Women Behind the Legendary Director’s Dark Obsession by Laurence Leamer.

Novak denied the report, and days later, Davis Jr. married singer Loray White; their marriage lasted about a year.

Novak later married actor Richard Johnson in 1965, and after their divorce, she went on to marry veterinarian Robert Malloy in 1976. The couple remained together until he died in 2021.

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