Sydney Sweeney’s next starring role is set to follow a precedent set by Scarlett Johansson back in 2012. After her record-breaking success with last year’s erotic thriller movie The Housemaid, Sweeney is set to play 1950s Hollywood icon Kim Novak, in an R-rated biopic about her relationship with Sammy Davis Jr..
Novak’s most famous screen role was her performance in Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal psychological thriller, Vertigo, which will undoubtedly feature extensively in this new biopic. In this sense, Sydney Sweeney is playing a part remarkably similar to Scarlett Johansson’s portrayal of Psycho star Janet Leigh in the 2012 biopic Hitchcock.
While Hitchcock is a movie about the film industry which doesn’t really add anything new to the familiar story of how this legendary director made his most celebrated masterpiece, Sweeney’s upcoming movie Scandalous has the potential to shed new light on Kim Novak’s life as a major Hollywood star. Still, there’s no denying the casting similarities between the two biopics.
Sydney Sweeney Will Play Kim Novak In Her Next Movie Scandalous
For many fans and commentators, the casting of Sydney Sweeney as Kim Novak in Scandalous is perfect for the movie. Treated as a blonde bombshell often overlooked for her acting talents, Sweeney has an acting career that mirrors the peak of Novak’s stardom in many ways.
What’s more, this challenging role comes in a historical drama that’s set to carry heavy political overtones, directed by Sweeney’s costar Colman Domingo. As Sammy Davis Jr., Domingo will be playing the man whose relationship with Kim Novak sent shockwaves across American society, at a time when racial integration was still widely repressed in the United States.
Kim Novak Is One Of The Most Iconic “Hitchcock Blondes”
Of course, Novak is best-known today for her role in Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece Vertigo, which saw her labeled as one of the so-called “Hitchcock Blondes” who frequently met with an unfortunate end in the director’s movies. Sydney Sweeney’s current status in Hollywood is arguably the modern-day equivalent of this phenomenon.
Kim Novak has expressed concern that Sweeney role in Scandalous will play off her reputation as an overly sexualized bombshell of 1950s cinema, rather than the multi-faceted complexities of her life and career. It could well be Sweeney’s track record of overtly erotic screen performances that has prompted Novak’s fears about the movie.
Scarlett Johansson Also Played Iconic “Hitchcock Blonde” Janet Leigh
Perhaps Kim Novak is jumping the gun a little in her assumptions about how Sydney Sweeney will portray her in Scandalous. Rather than Sweeney’s own previous roles, she’ll likely be taking her cues from Scarlett Johansson’s portrayal of another iconic “Hitchcock Blonde”, Janet Leigh.
It was Leigh who starred as the first murder victim in the Hitchcock movie based on serial killer Ed Gein’s story, Psycho. Johansson’s charismatic performance as the actor at the center of Hollywood’s most notorious shower scene features in Sacha Gervasi’s 2012 film Hitchcock, which stands out for its star quality more than its story.
Scandalous should have more to offer as a piece of storytelling than Hitchcock. Nevertheless, Sydney Sweeney would do well to follow Scarlett Johansson’s lead when playing one of the great director’s most revered screen collaborators.
- Release Date
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November 23, 2012
- Runtime
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98 minutes
- Director
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Sacha Gervasi