Watch the film trailer for “Nina,” starring Zoe Saldana, David Oyelowo, and Kevin Mambo. Photo: RLJ Entertainment
Zoe Saldana has spoken candidly about her regret at playing Nina Simone in a 2016 biopic.Source:Instagram
Zoe Saldana has tearfully apologised for portraying Nina Simone in a widely criticised 2016 biopic.
“I should have never played Nina,” Saldana – who wore a prosthetic nose and darkened her skin for the role – admitted during an interview with Pose creator Steven Canals on Instagram Live this week.
“I should have done everything in my power with the leverage that I had 10 years ago, which was a different leverage, but it was leverage nonetheless,” she continued. “I should have done everything in my power to cast a black woman to play an exceptionally perfect black woman.”
Zoe Saldana as US jazz singer Nina Simone.Source:Supplied
She’d previously defended being cast in the role. Picture: Valerie Macon/AFPSource:AFP
Saldana previously defended her decision to play the late singer and civil rights activist.
She addressed the backlash to the role at the time tweeting a quote from Simone, “I’ll tell you what freedom is to me – Not fear … I mean really, no fear,” which prompted the singer’s estate to respond scathingly, “Cool story but please take Nina’s name out of your mouth. For the rest of your life.”
Nina Simone died in 2003.Source:News Limited
“There’s no one way to be black. I’m black the way I know how to be. You have no idea who I am. I am black. I’m raising black men. Don’t you ever think you can look at me and address me with such disdain,” she said during an interview with Allure in 2016 .
The Marvel star, who is of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent, is now saying that Simone “deserved better”.
“I thought back then that I had the permission (to play her) because I was a black woman,” Saldana said. “And I am. But it was Nina Simone. And Nina had a life and she had a journey that should have been – and should be – honoured to the most specific detail because she was a specifically detailed individual.”
This article originally appeared in the NY Post and was reproduced with permission