![\"Stir](\"http:\/\/repeatingislands.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/09\/nina-popup.jpg?w=500\" "\\"NINA-popup\\"")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This article by Tanzina Vega appeared in The New York Times<\/em>. Follow link below for original report and photo galleries.<\/strong><\/p>\n In the digital age Hollywood casting decisions leaked from behind closed doors can instantly become fodder for public debate. And when the decision involves race and celebrity, the debate can get very heated.<\/p>\n The online media world has been abuzz with criticism for nearly a month now over the news \u2014 first reported by The Hollywood Reporter \u2014 that the actress Zoe Saldana would be cast as the singer Nina Simone<\/a> in the forthcoming film \u201cNina\u201d<\/a> based on her life.<\/p>\n Few have attacked Ms. Saldana<\/a> for her virtues as an actress. Instead, much of the reaction has focused on whether Ms. Saldana was cast because she, unlike Simone<\/a>, is light skinned and therefore a more palatable choice for the Hollywood film than a darker skinned actress.<\/p>\n \u201cHollywood and the media have a tendency to whitewash and lightwash a lot of stories, particularly when black actresses are concerned,\u201d said Tiffani Jones, the founder of the blog Coffee Rhetoric.<\/a> Ms. Jones wrote a blog post titled<\/a> \u201c(Mis)Casting Call: The Erasure of Nina Simone\u2019s Image.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen is it going to be O.K. to not be the delicate looking ideal of what the media considers blackness to be?\u201d Ms. Jones said in an interview.<\/p>\n Ms. Jones\u2019s post linked to an online petition<\/a> at the Web site Change.org that calls for Cynthia Mort<\/a>, the writer and director of the film, and Jimmy Iovine, executive producer, to \u201creplace Zoe Saldana with an actress who actually looks like Nina Simone.\u201d The petition had gathered more than 2,100 supporters as of Wednesday morning. A representative for Ms. Saldana said the actress was not available for comment.<\/p>\n Controversies over casting are now common, with a result that choices for popular films like \u201cThe Hunger Games\u201d become events in themselves<\/a>. (Some viewers took to Twitter to express their anger over the casting of black actors in the roles of Rue, Cinna and Thresh.) But the proposed choice of Ms. Saldana to play Simone has reignited the conversation of colorism \u2014 Alice Walker\u2019s term for discrimination based on gradations of skin color.<\/p>\n Recently an online petition was circulated to protest the casting of the light-skinned actress Thandie Newton<\/a> in the film based on Ngozi Adichie\u2019s novel \u201cHalf of a Yellow Sun,\u201d<\/a> which centers on the Nigerian Civil War<\/a> (1967-70); there was some criticism<\/a> of the casting of the biracial Jaqueline Fleming as Harriet Tubman<\/a> in the film \u201cAbraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n The disagreement over the Simone biography has resonated in part because of her place in music and social history. In addition to being a classically trained pianist, Simone, who died in 2003 at the age of 70, was a musical powerhouse known to her fans as the High Priestess of Soul who combined the styles of folk, jazz and blues with her deep, velvet voice.<\/p>\n She also became a major figure in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and a fixture at protests like the Selma to Montgomery March. In addition to her popular renditions of \u201cI Loves You, Porgy,\u201d and \u201cMy Baby Just Cares for Me<\/a>,\u201d she also wrote songs that addressed racism facing African-Americans, including \u201cMississippi Goddam,\u201d composed in response to the killing of Medgar Evers, and \u201cFour Women,\u201d<\/a> which described the histories and skin tones of four black women. Simone celebrated her looks, which were unconventional by show-business standards, with a personal style that included tribal inspired jewelry and hairdos.<\/p>\n Casting an actress who does not look like Simone is troubling, said Yaba Blay, a scholar of African and diaspora studies and the author of a forthcoming book called \u201c(1)ne Drop: Conversations on Skin Color, Race, and Identity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe power of her aesthetics was part of her power,\u201d Dr. Blay said. \u201cThis was a woman who prevailed and triumphed despite her aesthetic.\u201d Dark-skinned actresses, she added, are \u201calready erased from the media, especially in the role of the \u2018it girl\u2019 or the love interest.\u201d<\/p>\n The film is the brainchild of Ms. Mort, who wrote the script and will direct as well. Her credits include writing and producing television shows like \u201cRosanne\u201d and \u201cWill & Grace\u201d and the 2007 film \u201cThe Brave One\u201d<\/a> starring Jodie Foster. The new film is scheduled to begin shooting in mid-October in Santa Barbara, Calif.<\/p>\n According to Ms. Mort, who is white, the film was not intended to be a biography in the strict sense, but instead \u201ca love story about an artist\u2019s journey unto herself,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a difference,\u201d she added, \u201cbetween telling a story that includes and involves emotion and experiences and doing a biopic \u2014 she was born here, she did this, she did that. That is also a great story, but that\u2019s not what we\u2019re telling in that kind of linear fashion.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Mort said that she was still in the process of confirming whether Ms. Saldana would play Simone. David Oyelowo<\/a> will play Simone\u2019s companion and love interest, a composite character based on Simone\u2019s manager and caretaker, Clifton Henderson.<\/p>\n The singer Mary J. Blige was first cast to play Simone until she had to bow out for what Ms. Mort described as \u201cscheduling issues,\u201d though Ms. Blige said publicly she had spent years preparing for the role. The rumors of Ms. Saldana\u2019s casting prompted Simone\u2019s daughter, Simone Kelly, to write a note to her mother\u2019s fans on the official Nina Simone Facebook page. Ms. Kelly, who was born Lisa Celeste Stroud, said that the project was unauthorized, and that Simone\u2019s estate had not been asked permission or been asked to participate in the film.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mother was raised at a time when she was told her nose was too wide, her skin was too dark,\u201d Ms. Kelly said in an interview. \u201cAppearance-wise this is not the best choice,\u201d she added, referring to Ms. Saldana.<\/p>\n Ms. Kelly, who described herself as a fan of Ms. Saldana\u2019s work, said she would have preferred to see actresses like Viola Davis or Kimberly Elise. She added that her mother\u2019s own choice to play her was Whoopi Goldberg.<\/p>\n Ms. Kelly also took issue with the creative license taken by Ms. Mort\u2019s script, particularly the story line that Simone had a romantic relationship with Mr. Henderson. In the Facebook post<\/a> Ms. Kelly wrote: \u201cClifton Henderson was gay. He was not attracted to women. So, the truth is \u2026 Nina Simone and Clifton Henderson NEVER had a relationship other than a business one.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Mort described Mr. Henderson\u2019s character as \u201ca composite of many different loves and aspects of love in Nina\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n Vic Bulluck, the executive director of the N.A.A.C.P Hollywood Bureau, believes the issue is the director, not the proposed star.<\/p>\n \u201cCasting really is an issue of what actors are hot at any given moment, so the filmmakers can secure the funding to get the movie made,\u201d he said. \u201cI would question the filmmaker\u2019s ability to tell the story more than I would question Zoe Saldana\u2019s ability to embody the character.\u201d<\/p>\n Dana Polan, a professor of cinema studies at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, said the issues of casting for a biopic are complicated, especially when it comes to involving the family of a celebrity. \u201cFamily don\u2019t always know what\u2019s best for the historical record, even if they may want to protect an image,\u201d Mr. Polan said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s clear that Hollywood often operates from a model that lighter skin is more marketable than darker skin and this idea that anyone of color can play any character of color,\u201d Mr. Polan said. \u201cAllowing creative freedom is something we should encourage in filmmaking. On the other hand, Hollywood will claim creative freedom when its simply a matter of business as usual.\u201d<\/p>\n For the original report go to http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/09\/13\/movies\/should-zoe-saldana-play-nina-simone-some-say-no.html?_r=0<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Stir](\"http:\/\/repeatingislands.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/09\/zoe-saldana-widescreen-wallpaper-zoe-saldana-9266389-1920-1200.jpg?w=500&h=312\" "\\"Zoe-Saldana-Widescreen-Wallpaper-zoe-saldana-9266389-1920-1200\\"")
<\/p>\n