EXCLUSIVE: Hulu is not proceeding with its planned limited series about Sammy Davis Jr., starring Elijah Kelley as the Candy Man, from Lee Daniels and 20th Television.
I hear 20th Television will be shopping the project to other buyers and plans to attach additional high-level talent before taking it out as part of an aggressive effort to find a new home.
The studio recently was able to set another streaming series, The Spiderwick Chronicles (co-production with lead studio Paramount TV Studios), at Roku, following Disney+’s decision not to move forward with it.
The pickup reversals for both shows come amid a content spend cut across all divisions of Hulu and Disney+ parent Disney, which the company announced earlier this year. Additionally, all media companies have been reevaluating their streaming strategies by cutting programming costs with a renewed focus on profitability.
Hulu ordered the long-gestating Sammy Davis Jr. limited series in April 2022. In February, 2023, Kimberly Harrison (The Crossover) was brought in as showrunner.
Written by Daniels and Thomas Westfall based on Will Haygood’s biography, In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr., and inspired by Alex Haley’s interview of Davis, the eight-episode series explores the entertainer’s life through the lens of his racial identity and his complex relationship with the Black community.
It centers on Davis (Kelley), who rose from childhood stardom on the vaudeville stage to become one of the most famous African American entertainers of the 1950s and ’60s (and the only Black member of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack). At the same time, he spent most of his career surrounded by controversy and ridicule – over his affairs with white film stars, his 1960 marriage to Swedish actress May Britt, his conversion to Judaism, his closeness to the Kennedys (and later Richard Nixon) and his problems with alcohol and drugs.
Harrison executive produces with Daniels, who will direct the first two episodes, and Westfall. Marc Toberoff and Pam Williams also executive produce. Haygood and Kelley produce.