India Arie Slams Zoe Saldana For Playing Nina Simone In Biopic [PHOTOS]
India Arie has involved herself in the Zoe Saldana controversy over her new Nina Simone film role, Radar Online reported.
The singer doesn’t believe Saldana is right for the role, especially since prosthetics have been added to her face that make her look “weird.”
[Click here to see pictures of Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone]
Arie also added that Saldana's skin is too light and that an actress who looked more like Simone should have been cast, like her.
The biopic about the singer and civil rights activist who died at the age of 70 nine years ago has been getting slammed by critics, and now India Arie has joined the list.
This biggest complain seems to be that the 34-year-old Saldana is not dark enough to play a woman whose daughter said on Facebook that she "was told her nose was too big and she was too dark.”
In an article posted on NinaSimone.com, Arie was so outraged that she capitalized some of her words, the written equivalent of shouting.
"SO TODAY I saw the images of Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone…" she wrote.
"Yes there should be a movie made, and YES they should have chosen someone who LOOKS like Nina Simone, ESPECIALLY since her RACE played such a PIVOTAL role in WHO, WHAT and WHY she was.
"THAT ASIDE for a second, this just looks WEIRD, it looks like a person in Black(er) face with a fake nose…REALLY?!!!!"
She added: "THIS looks like a parody. If it has to be FORCED this hard something’s not right!"
Arie referred to herself as Simone’s "physical heir apparent" but wanted to make it clear that it was nothing personal against Saldana.
“Saldana can pull off the portrayal ENERGETICALLY.” But nonetheless, when she saw the images of Saldana she wrote, they “make me feel…SAD."
Arie has an idea of who, aside from herself, would be perfect for the role.
She wrote, “VIOLA DAVIS should be playing Nina Simone."
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