Lee Daniels’ Sammy Davis Jr. limited series is not going forward with Hulu after all.
Deadline reported that 20th Television is now shopping around the project that has Elijah Kelley set to star as Davis. The plan is to bring other big stars on board before taking an aggressive push to other outlets.
The decision to not go forward with the project is part of parent company Disney to cut costs across the board. Particularly affected are streaming services under Disney; according to Deadline, Disney and other companies have been taking a second and third look at the content on their streamers with a focus on the content’s profitability. As such, several shows have been cancelled and projects that haven’t even gotten off the ground, such as this one, are axed.
The project is based on In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr., written by Will Haygood. The project also draws from Roots author Alex Haley’s interview of Davis. The limited series was set to span eight episodes and focus on Davis’ life, his experiences with race and culture, such as his interracial relationships and his conversion to Judaism, his politics, and his “complex relationship with the Black community,” according to Deadline.
The limited series was announced as early as 2019, under the title Sammy. As Shadow and Act reported, Lee has wanted to bring a Davis biopic to HBO in 2013.
Several other competing biopic projects had been announced since then, including 2020’s Scandalous!, with Janet Mock attached to direct and Jeremy Pope attached to star as Davis. The film would follow Davis’ relationship with Kim Novak. There’s been no word on the film’s development since 2020.
Another Davis project that hasn’t been heard of since 2020 is a biopic that was set to be produced by Lena Waithe and Hillman Grad’s Rishi Rajani. The film would be based on Sammy Davis, Jr.: My Father, the 1996 book written by Tracey Davis, the daughter of Davis and May Britt. The film would focus on Davis mending his relationship with his daughter. Tracey died in 2020, the same year her book was acquired by MGM for biopic treatment. She was 59 years old.
