'Someone Else Should Tell Her Story': Zoe Saldana Apologizes for Playing Nina Simone

Actress Zoe Saldana apologized for appearing in the trainwreck that was the 2016 Nina Simone biopic Nina, in which she wore a prosthetic nose and makeup to make her skin appear darker.

“I should have never played Nina,” Saldana said in an interview with Pose creator Steven Canals, for the site Bese. “I should have done everything in my power with the leverage that I had 10 years ago… to cast a Black woman to play an exceptionally perfect Black woman.”

“I thought back then that I had the permission because I was a Black woman,” she continued. “I am, but it was Nina Simone and she had a life and she had a journey that should be honored to the most specific detail.” At one point Saldana tears up and says that “someone else should tell her story.”

Previously Saldana defended her taking the role, even though Simone’s own daughter criticized the casting and disapproved of the film. Nina was widely panned at the time of its release by critics, with reviewers calling it clichéd and incoherent.

You can watch Saldana speak about the Nina biopic at the 40:28 minute mark, when Canals asks her to speak about her growth as an actress.