Coleman Domingo on Scandalous! Directorial debut with Sydney Sweeney

It looks like it’s going to be a busy year for Colman Domingo, who is gearing up for his directorial debut with the film Scandalous! in 2025.

Discussing his new Netflix series MadnessThe Oscar-nominated actor told Deadline that he plans to begin production on the upcoming film, which will star Sydney Sweeney in the “fractured love story between Sammy Davis Jr. and Kim Novak,” after they wrap filming the third season of the HBO series. Euphoria in the summer of 2025.

“Our goal is to take it off as soon as we’re both done.” Euphoriaso hopefully I will start preparing right after this next year, probably in the third quarter of next year,” he noted. “And then hopefully we’ll make a beautiful, sweet movie that’s really about the possibility of love, but in the public eye, trying to be private, trying to have love, trying to have a life. And I think Sydney and I know that very well. We’re trying to stand up for your humanity in your life again.”

Domingo praised Sweeney for inviting him into the project after working together on Euphoriain which he plays Narcotics Anonymous sponsor Ali Muhammad and she plays high school student Cassie Howard. They are both returning for the highly anticipated third season, which begins filming in January.

“The best thing is that Sydney Sweeney, as a producer, invited me to direct. The project fell into her hands and she thought who would be a good director to do this with her, and she thought of me,” he explained. “I read the script and I had some notes – I rewrote it from the first page. She liked it. So we were really talking one-on-one, trying to figure out what we could do together, kind of like this broken love story between Sammy Davis Jr. and Kim Novak.

“And then we also invited David Johnson to go on this journey with us, so it still feels very intimate with Jonathan Glickman from Miramax. So it feels like we are still in a dream state,” Domingo added.

Novak, star Dizzinessand Rat Pack member Davis were at the height of their star power when they met as guests on The Steve Allen Show. They fell deeply in love, but as rumors spread, rampant racism in America threatened to derail their careers. Novak experienced the wrath of Harry Cohn, the head of Columbia Pictures, with whom the actress had a contract. Her secret affair with Davis became big news when a Chicago gossip columnist wrote a detailed account of their relationship in early 1958, including their plans to marry despite their denials. Nine days later, Davis married a black chorus girl named Loray White.