Zoë Saldaña has reportedly signed on to play legendary songstress Nina Simone in an upcoming biopic. The film, which will also star David Oyelowo (‘The Help’), has been in the making for many years now. Originally, Mary J. Blige signed on to portray Nina. However, due to issues with funding, the singer decided to leave the project to focus on other endeavors.

The news of Blige’s departure came as a surprise to fans as she has been extremely vocal about her love and admiration for the late jazz musician. She even went as far as to use a sample of Simone’s “You Know How I Feel,” a single from her seventh studio album, The Breakthrough, featuring music producer will.i.am.

News of Saldaña’s participation in the biopic has stirred mixed emotions. While no one is criticizing Saldaña’s ability to act the part, many are up in arms about her appearance in contrast to Simone’s. Simone was a dark-skinned African-American woman with coarse hair, a wide nose and full lips. Saldaña is an Afro-Latina, but her features may not “African enough” in the eyes of critics.

The decision to cast a woman who, despite being featured in numerous films with largely African-American casts, has largely identified as a Latina does not sit well with African-Americans. Many claim that it is hard enough for African-American actresses in Hollywood to gain respectable roles while competing with one another. Why add a ‘non-African-American’ into the mix and further complicate things?

For what it’s worth, Saldaña is proud of her mixed race. In her September 2011 cover story for Ebony Magazine, she states, “I am proud of my roots.” She goes on to acknowledge, however, that she doesn’t “identify as much with U.S. American History as I do with Latin American History. And so, I have bones to pick with Latin American people. There’s a lot of growing that we still have to do that we aren’t doing. We have to continue accepting our indigenous and our African heritage just as much as we embrace our European [blood].” The cover itself said it all: “Latina, Black, Fierce…”

While she is not ashamed of her heritage, she will not allow it to define her. She rarely speaks of it, which is another reason why some people are unwilling to accept her participation in this film. There are many who are not aware of the aforementioned interview in which she proclaimed that she is, indeed, partially black.

Simone rose to fame as a jazz singer in the late 1950s and became involved in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. She later lived a life of self-imposed exile from a country in which she never felt comfortable in. She died in Europe in 2003.

Production of ‘Nina’ will begin in October.

Image Courtesy of   s_bukley / Shutterstock.com

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Wondering what action movie to see this summer? Consider Colombiana, an action/adventure starring Zoe Saldana as a young woman who witnessed both of her parents murder by the mob when she was nine years old. Similar to Angelina Jolie’s character in Wanted, she grows up to be a “stone-cold” assassin, embarking on a fifteen year journey to hunt down the mobster responsible for her parents murders and achieve vengeance. During this time, she works for her uncle as a hit(wo)man by day, and come nightfall she becomes a rogue killer. Responsible for over 22 deaths within four years, she is getting closer to her target and, typical of Saldana, is looking good while doing it.

As its name indicates, the film is set in Bogota, Colombia, though it is filmed in throughout the United States, Mexico and Paris studios. With a focus on Latin America, many message boards are questioning the stereotypes which may arise due to the setting in Latin American culture. The murder and expected drug use–along with the common misconception that Bogota is located in a tropical jungle when it apparently has a more similar climate to Chicago, rarely reaching above 65 degrees Fahrenheit– has many Colombian natives questioning the authenticity. One blogger wrote, “I just hope to find in this movie at least some slight interest on the true Colombia, and not some pretension of creating a Latin Lara Croft raised in a non-existing and decontextualized Bogota.” With a looped tagline in the trailer of “Never forget where you came from,” will the movie live up to a higher standard?

Directed by Olivier Megaton and produced by Luc Besson, the French pair will take on the challenge. Megaton is best known for Transformers 3 (2008), though some would argue that it was their least favorite installment of the series. In addition, Transformers 3 is his only English-language film to date, making for some speculation amongst movie goers if he will be able to deliver.

However, teamed up with mega-producer Luc Besson the odds are looking quite likely. Besson wrote and directed the 1990 box office hit Nikita, which was focused around a femme fatale assassin. He is also responsible for other action films, such as The Fifth Element and Taken, making him a veteran of putting action and powerful female characters onto the screen.

To add to the hype is Saldana herself, who has become cinema’s “bad ass female” through her roles in the highly acclaimed Avatar and Star Trek. Present in a wave of action heroines, Saldana continues to hold her role as a sexually empowered and machine gun wielding vigilante, prevailing above whoever has done wrong until personal justice is achieved. Will she help make Colombiana a box office hit that stays true to Colombian culture, while asserting her presence as a femme fatale?

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