Here's the First Trailer for the Controversial Nina Simone Biopic
Zoe Saldana plays the legendary singer.
After years of delays and controversy, Nina, the biopic about iconic soul singer and activist Nina Simone, will finally be released on April 22. The film was first screened at Cannes in 2014. Long before that, Simone's family and fans had been protesting the movie over the filmmaker's choice to cast Zoe Saldana to play Simone.
As The New York Times reported in 2012 when Saldana was first cast, "Much of the reaction has focused on whether Ms. Saldana was cast because she, unlike Simone, is light skinned and therefore a more palatable choice for the Hollywood film than a darker skinned actress." Later, Simone's daughter blasted the filmmakers for casting "Saldana, who is Dominican, Puerto Rican, Haitian and Lebanese, unlike Simone, who was famously proud of her African roots. Saldana was observed on set wearing makeup to darken her face and prosthetics to alter her nose."
This first trailer seems to focus primarily on Simone's notorious temper and substance abuse rather than her role as a leader during the Civil Rights Movement. Simone, along with being an influential singer known as the High Priestess of Soul, was politically active through her music and her involvement in the Selma to Montgomery marches and other protests. Here's Simone performing "Mississippi Goddam,"—a response to the 1963 murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers—in 1965:
Joaquin Phoenix Thanked Heath Ledger at SAG Awards
Jeff Bridges Explained the Oscars to Al Pacino
Never Forget How Great Reba Was in 'Tremors'
'Cloverfield' Was One of Film's Last Surprises
The Academy Awards in the '70s: The Photos
This Real-Life Mobster Doesn't Love 'The Irishman'
20 Questions After Seeing RDJ's 'Dolittle'
The MAGA Idiots Are Trying to Take Baby Yoda
The Real Story of James Bond
1917 Star Explains the Emotional WWI Epic
Lauryn Hill Performed a Powerful Nina Simone Cover on 'Fallon'
Getting to Know Nina Agdal
Supermodel Nina Agdal Is 2012's Ms. End-of-Summer Pick-Me-Up
See the First 'Bohemian Rhapsody' Trailer
Trailer for the Lance Armstrong Biopic Turns Controversy into Villainy
These Raf Simons Adidas Sneakers Are Everything