Day: January 28, 2013

Question This

At the end of 2012, Black people were all up in arms about Zoe Saldana playing Nina Simone in her biopic.  (Read this, and this, and this.)  I think I even broached this topic with a few people on Facebook.  While researching a few things this week, I became aware of a few other things that have occurred in Hollywood, and I was wondering why people didn’t question them-at least to the extent that was done with Zoe.

I was trying to decide if I wanted to purchase the movie, “W”, Oliver Stone’s flick about (his perception of) President George W. Bush.  I was also interested in the movie because a childhood friend that was murdered the same year the movie was released has a small role in it.  When I looked at the cast, I was stunned and surprised to see that Thandie Newton was playing Condoleezza Rice.  I was even MORE stunned when I saw stills from the film that showed Thandie “dressed” as Condi, complete with wig AND make-up to make her appear more like the US National Security Adviser.  (For the record, she played Rice before she was appointed to Secretary of State). In my opinion, I think this is the same situation regarding Zoe and Nina…yet I don’t recall anyone making a big deal about this.  Why is that?  While Thandie is an amazing actress, I don’t see her playing Condoleezza.  There’s nothing about these two ladies that remind me of the other.  And let’s not talk about Jeffrey Wright playing Secretary of State Colin Powell.  Maybe a big stink wasn’t made because the film wasn’t about Rice; it was about the President.  Either way, I think this was a GROSS mis-casting, if that’s even a word.

There was also something else I came across that caught my eye and made me wonder why it wasn’t heard about on a larger scale, but of course I can’t remember what it was.  In any case, what do think about Zoe Saldana playing Nina Simone?  If you’re a fan of the singer, do you still plan on seeing the film?  And what about Thandie playing Condoleezza?  If you saw the film, did she do a good job?  Or did you just focus on these two women being vastly different?  Until next time, I’m just a Southern girl…in the city!

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