Zoe Saldana Getting Clowned For Trying To Play Nina Simone
Watching people trip over themselves is fun
my bad if this has been posted, but this is the most 
article ive seen on this issue, it explains a whole lot
Meet the Team Behind Nina
article ive seen on this issue, it explains a whole lotMeet the Team Behind Nina
It looks like the Nina Simone biopic starring Zoe Saldana is really happening. For real. Like, they’re actually going through with this.
From the very beginning, many have been, let’s say, skeptical, about the casting of Zoe Saldana, a light skinned black woman of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent, as the dark-skinned Nina Simone. In the film, Zoe Saldana wears a wig far from her natural hair texture, a prosthetic nose and most jarringly, dark brown makeup. For many, Saldana is effectively wearing blackface.
To be fair, none of us have seen the film yet, but the visual of Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone is going to be a hard thing to get past.
In 2012, Nina Simone’s daughter expressed her issues with the film, namely that the filmmakers should have cast a woman who more closely resembles her mother. Most seem to agree that there are plenty of black actresses with darker skin who would have been better suited to play Simone.
So how exactly did this happen? How did what I have to believe is one of the worst strings of decision-making in the history of film occur? We may never get an answer to that question, but what we do know is who actually made this film happen.
Take a look at the team behind Nina and see if you can perhaps glean what went wrong.
Writer and Director Cynthia Mort
Casting Director Heidi Levitt
Key Makeup Artist Vera Steimberg (She is the woman who is not Zoe Saldana)
Prosthetic Makeup Designer Matthew W. Mungle
Key Prosthetic Artist Douglas Noe
Costume Designer Magali Guidasci
Screenshot via
Owner of Ealing Studios Entertainment, the studio that produced the film, and Executive Producer Ben Latham Jones (He is the guy who is not in the Black Eyed Peas)
And here are the producers and executive producers of Nina:
Top row left to right: David Oyelowo, Mark Burton, Stuart Parr and Paul Rosenberg, Lauren Lloyd, Allison Sarofim. Bottom row left to right: Aigerim Jakisheva, Barnaby Thompson, Pierre Lagrange, Jimmy Iovine.
I wasn’t able to find usable photos for producers Chris Stinson, Gene Kirkwood and James Spring but I can confirm that they are all white men.
Can anyone help me get to the bottom of this mystery?
CinnaSlim
Queen of Swords
That's nice. Sorry to spoil the fun.
Premeditated
MANDE KANG
Negro you said ANY standard of beauty...sh
You don't get to determine Nina's value/worth/beauty for anyone other than yourself...
She was absolutely gorgeous...
And you are the main one in here mad that she was with a white man
Premeditated
MANDE KANG
hell naw that wench wouldn't pass as a fulani.There isn't a monolithic look so its a dumb questionZoe could EASILY be Fula, Igbo or Yoruban and so could Nina
I get yall point though.off topic: has anyone noticed that Rwandans favor brown skin AAs the most in Africa? although their feature are slightly sharper
Premeditated
MANDE KANG
lets be honest, is Nina Simone really someone to have an outrage for? She fits into a long line of civil rights activist entertainers from way back who were hypocrites and closet white worshipers like Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne.
And is it just me or did women only recently started giving a fukk about her? Up to 4 year ago, I thought I was the only nikka who knew of her.
And is it just me or did women only recently started giving a fukk about her? Up to 4 year ago, I thought I was the only nikka who knew of her.
How do you know that?
Field Marshall Bradley
Veteran
@OffHalsted
The 100s LochNess
check lsa
I Lord Justice
All Star
Highly slept on post.
@OffHalsted
The 100s LochNess
Tropical Fantasy
Superstar
Why don't they find a dark skinned actress to play simone???
Cuz they dont give a fukk about Nina Simone or her story
it's all about $$$$$$$$$$$$$
Tropical Fantasy
Superstar
quiet as kept lol
first husband was a cac, second husband was lightskinned or biracial
apparently was an abusive mother also
This movie will flop horribly.