Cinematical

Well, I guess we can add another name to the list of actors competing for the role of the late great Rat Packer Sammy Davis Jr. While doing some press with MTV for Hairspray, star Elijah Kelley let it slip that he is in talks to play the legendary song and dance man. Now, here's where it starts to get a little complicated for Kelley. A couple of weeks ago, Jette had word that there were three competing Davis projects in active development. The forerunners are a co-production between Denzel Washington and Brian Grazer based on the 2003 biography In Black and White, and a film with André Benjamin that focuses on the relationship between Davis and actress Kim Novak. Kelley would be reuniting with Hairspray producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron for his chance to play the candy man; he says that he would be playing Davis between the age of 15 to 25, which were the years that "made him Sammy Davis Jr."

Kelley is not waiting around for this role though, and has already signed with New Line for Party Up, a movie that revolves around the treasured standby of all teen comedies, the house party gone awry. And since it's all just speculation at this point, it's way too early to tell if Kelley could even handle the more dramatic aspects of Davis' life. We know that he can rock a finger wave, but first, we are going to have to wait and see who emerges victorious in the "battle of the biopics."