It seems that Zoe Saldana being casted as Nina Simone in the upcoming biopic Nina, a film about the singer's turbulent time with mental illness and racism, has invoked the ire of the Simone estate. After a tweet from Saldana offering up a sentiment of having "no fear," Ms. Simone's verified Twitter account retorted ferociously, saying, 'take Nina's name out your mouth."
It's no surprise that Ms. Saldana has been criticized for her portrayal of the late-jazz singer as these complaints have been lodged since production was announced. However flagrant the comments might be, they pale in comparison to the scathing remarks posted to Nina's twitter account.
Another tweet from Ms. Simone's estate presented the notion:
"Hopefully people begin to understand this is painful. Gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, nauseating, soul-crushing. It shall pass, but for now..."
The implications of Saldana transforming into Ms. Simone on camera are in dealing with the actor needing certain facial and skin elements to help make her look more "Simone." Equipped with a prosthetic nose and having her skin darkened to fit the protocol, Saldana being changed in any capacity has been compared to going "black face."
On top of all the controversy, a recent poster for the movie was posted to Saldana's social media and sent the internet into a frenzy. The studio claims that no doctoring was done to the image and that it is a still from the film itself but other are suggesting that Zoe, once more, was darkened to fit Simone's appearance.
Whatever issue the estate has taken with Saldana's portrayal has yet to be said in concrete terms but the scathing reviews of the actor as the jazz singer don't seem to be letting up any time soon.
Check out the trailer below and judge for yourself.
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