According to Variety, Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment optioned the screen rights to Wil Haygood's book In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr. Denzel Washingon will direct the film, but reports are at the moment that he will not act in it. Publisher's Weekly called the book "moving" and "exhaustive," and it portrays Davis as a man constantly shifting between identities depending upon the world in which he moved: the twin universes of black and white.
The fascinating (and potentially racially charged) question is whether he "wanted to be white," which the book answers in the affirmative. According to Haygood, his heroes, his friends, and his women all reflected that desire. But it may not be quite that simple, as Haygood also reveals that Davis' life played out across racial lines - the things he did, be it in his friendships or his marriage to blond beauty May Britt - reflected a desire to not be bound simply by the color of his skin. That's true even if, as Haygood suggests, Davis never quite came to terms "with his own skin," and that his only true sense of identity came as a performer (that is true of many performers, regardless of race).
All told, it will be very interesting to see not only who ends up playing Davis in the film, but how it will tackle these aspects of his life.
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