How “Nina” Became A Disaster Movie

[Stellar]

Much More: BuzzFeed

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The outcry against the casting of Saldana began immediately after it was announced in August 2012, and it grew loud enough that the New York Times wrote about the subject’s complexities. A consensus of media, scholars, and fans felt strongly — according to the Times — that casting the lighter-skinned Saldana, who is black and Latina, was an example of colorism, and that Simone’s physical image was of particular significance because the singer, pianist, and civil rights activist had “celebrated her looks, which were unconventional by show-business standards.”

Most damningly, the article quoted Simone’s daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly, criticizing the filmmakers’ casting decision. “My mother was raised at a time when she was told her nose was too wide, her skin was too dark,” Simone Kelly said. “Appearance-wise this is not the best choice.” (Saldana’s publicist said she was not available to be interviewed regarding Nina. Reached through Facebook, Simone Kelly said, “I have nothing more to say about Nina.”)

While the clamor over the film ebbed — mostly because it’s taken so long to be released — it erupted again after the trailer was released in March. On Jezebel, Kara Brown wrote, “One of the most harmful products of anti-black racism is the notion that our proximity to whiteness increases our beauty and desirability, not just to white people, but also to each other. By simply existing, Nina Simone confronted this lie.” In The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote, “There is something deeply shameful — and hurtful — in the fact that even today a young Nina Simone would have a hard time being cast in her own biopic. In this sense, the creation of Nina is not a neutral act. It is part of the problem.”

And after Saldana tweeted a Simone quotation — “I’ll tell you what freedom is to me- No Fear… I mean really, no fear” — the Simone estate’s official Twitter account smacked back: “Cool story but please take Nina’s name out your mouth. For the rest of your life.”

[madaboutharry]

1. The documentary about Nina Simone

makes it so clear how much her appearance played a major role in the trajectory of her career. Hollywood so often does the wrong thing.

[Number23]

2. Oh my God. If they were going to spray paint her a darker shade, couldn't they have done her neck

too??! Good Lord, did they run out of Brown #7 or something??!

[Stellar]

3. ROTF!!!!

I thouhgt of that too.

[JustAnotherGen]

6. Oh you noticed that too?

I watched a Nina Simone documentary on Netflix a couple of months ago - and with what she encountered? This is just so wrong.

[Chitown Kev]

15. Number 23, now you know...YOU KNOW

that was both unnecessary and QUITE necessary, LOL.

[Number23]

20. Face all fudgey brown with that white assed neck

If they've run out, I will MAIL them some more Chocolate Brown #3 so that they can hit that nape too. Damn.

[ismnotwasm]

16. Oh dear God

SMH

[SusanCalvin]

17. OMG!

They didn't! Really?? That's got to be a trick of the light - they couldn't be that stupid, could they?!

[Number23]

21. "they couldn't be that stupid, could they?!" Stupid, lazy or clearly don't give a damn

Probably a bit of all three.

[SusanCalvin]

22. From the reviews, apparently that's the explanation.

I was going to say "what were they thinking," but it looks like they weren't. What a travesty.

[Kind of Blue]

4. I have no use for this Claymation production of Ms. Simone.

[NWCorona]

5. I love Nina Simone and was very excited about this movie until until the casting was announced.

I was still hopeful but that trailer was all kinds of messy.

This qoute from your link says it all for me. So sad but very true.

"in the fact that even today a young Nina Simone would have a hard time being cast in her own biopic. In this sense, the creation of Nina is not a neutral act. It is part of the problem.”"

Truth be told, Nina was so complex it would be hard for any actress to pull it off.

Thanks for the link!

[zappaman]

7. Love Nina Simone and had the pleasure of working with Zoe Saldana, but

this really does not work for me.
I remember Zoe getting a phone call from her mom and conversing in rapid Spanish.
To be honest, I always thought she was Latina so this is bad casting.
Like really bad.

[Stellar]

8. She always considered her self a Latina first and foremost...

Saldana said that there was no such thing as people of color. Go figure.

[kwassa]

9. This is how Hispanics identify.

Nation of origin. They really don't care about our US classifications. They have no cohesion as Hispanics, this is a US category imposed on them. Their racial identification is much more fluid than us as well. It is different in each country. In some countries, it is far worse to be of indigenous heritage than of black heritage.

[Stellar]

11. Well, there you are...she's an American...

Born on June 19, 1978 in Passaic, New Jersey, and partly raised in the Dominican Republic, the bilingual Zoe Saldana.

I guess she can be anything that she wants to be. Nina Simone was very passionate about her blackness, and Zoe...not so much.

[MrScorpio]

10. Reviews have pretty much panned this movie as well...

Nina Simone deserved much better.

[Quayblue]

12. Fell asleep on this mess last night.

As a very dark-skinned woman, it very much burns me up on the inside that at this day and age, we are not represented in abundance and POSITIVELY in media. And this is part of the reason I avoid television and have since I was a teen.

To have to go and spraypaint someone.... Just ugh. The irony of this shit....

[Stellar]

13. This is how I remember Nina Simone...

[Kind of Blue]

14. Some reviews

This is the sort of movie where you stumble out thinking, What the hell did I just see? A Nina Simone novice seeing this picture would have no idea who this complex, magnificent artist was, or why she mattered.
Stephanie Zacharek·Time

it is shabby, as well as disjointed, superficial and just plain dull, a dislikable rendering of a tumultuous life.
Joe Morgenstern·Wall Street Journal

Nina Simone cut an awful lot of vinyl, but "Nina" feels like a battered old record - distorting some places, skipping over others.
Stephen Whitty·New York Daily News

As troubling as the implications of Saldana’s casting might be, the actress’s physical appearance in the film — which only approximates Simone’s — is ultimately not the most egregious deviation.
Michael O'Sullivan·Washington Post

A 90-minute-long character assassination, transforming a music legend into a Hanna-Barbera cartoon.
Brian Orndorf Blu-ray.com

At its best, Nina is cosplay karaoke, with Saldana in front of a cinematic jukebox belting her favorite artist's tunes. At its worst, it's an insult.
Alynda Wheat People Magazine

A listless, oddly constructed tale that does a poor job of capturing Simone's star quality or indomitable racial pride ...
Dan DeLuca Philadelphia Inquirer

[Digital Puppy]

19. Ouch!

[Stellar]

23. Whoa...thanks for sharing! nt

[MADem]

18. I feel sorry for the artist who got roped into this mess.

The Nina Simone story CAN be done right--and hopefully someone will do it.

But poor Ms. Saldana has a line item on her resume that she'll have to live down. I'll bet she'll have something to say to her agent (if she hasn't said it already).