India Arie Talks Nina Simone Biopic

Everyone’s got their own idea of who, other than Zoe Saldana, should play Nina Simone in the upcoming “Nina” biopic. India Arie’s name has been tossed around a few times, especially after she portrayed Simone performing “Come Ye” on the series “American Dreams” in 2003. 

Recently the soul singer spoke up regarding the film casting Zoe Saldana in the lead. She had already seen an early version of the film three years ago and said, “the way she looked in the movie was ugly.”  

India further explained, “I think the best way to say it is that they casted her against type and went too far to make her fit. It’s not my place to say how Zoe Saldana perceives herself, and I can’t say how anybody else perceives her either.” 

“I don’t know her and I don’t think she did anything wrong,” India added. “I think they cast Zoe Saldana because they wanted a big name, but that makes me ask, ‘Is the name Nina Simone not big enough to get people to come to the movie?’ ” 

This isn’t the first time India Arie has spoken out against Zoe being cast as Nina Simone. When the images of Zoe in costume first hit the net in 2012, India Arie posted her thoughts on Nina Simone’s official website. “This just looks WEIRD, it looks like a person in Black(er) face with a fake nose,” she writes. “As hard as Nina had to fight for what she wanted BECAUSE she was black and looked the way she did … THIS looks like a parody. If it has to be FORCED this hard something’s not right! You had to put a whole other face on someone’s face.“

I think India is right in the fact that they wanted a big name, and at the the time, Zoe Saldana had just come off of a huge high following her role in Colombiana. Unfortunately though, the film makers jumped the gun and did not anticipate how long the movie would take . They didn’t take a risk on any of the lesser known black actresses who are now Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe winners. Imagine where actresses like Taraji, Uzo, Lupita, Viola, Kerry, etc were in 2011/2012? All it took was for someone to have faith in them. Rather than just cast a huge name, the good folks behind “Nina” should have considered casting the RIGHT person for the part, no matter how long it took to find her or how many huge films she stared in previously. 

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