If Sissy Spacek sang in Coal Miner's Daughter and Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon sang in Walk the Line, then an actress can sing in a Nina Simone biopic, even if technology has to help. Saldana was hardly their best choice.
is it any surprise that some classically beautiful woman was inappropriately cast to play nina
I don't say this with any disrespect, and maybe I'm incredibly naïve, but I think casting for the role would be very challenging.
Where to find someone who can act while also possessing a similarly unique beauty and voice as Nina's?
well, it can't have been an easy choice. they would have had to balance the needs/desires of the fan base that know how nina looked, sounded and acted with the wider public who may have only heard her name in passing. Also, some actors are so great at their craft that they can pull off the illusion even when they don't look like the person (eg. anthony hopkins in nixon)
Having said that, i have serious misgivings about this project. I hope they don't churn this into the biopic formula:
1. deprived/abusive/sad childhood
2. discovery and the road to the top
3. the fall - almost always drugs and alcohol and/or mental breakdown
4. the rehabilitation
5. the happy fucking ending where all is made right.
If Sissy Spacek sang in Coal Miner's Daughter and Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon sang in Walk the Line, then an actress can sing in a Nina Simone biopic, even if technology has to help. Saldana was hardly their best choice.
Me neither. I can appreciate her steez, but there are better vocalists, better pianists, more outrageous divas etc. I'd like to say she could swing like a muhfug but I can't truthfully. And that is what I like in someone singing tunes of this nature.
I guess the package worked and the hits are nice but really not found anything worth revisiting in the rest of the catalogue.
Total thread hijack.
Just finished reading Just Kids, Patti Smith's book about Robert Mapplethorpe.
There are a number of pop stars that I consider artist first.
Their approach to music comes from artist perspective. Music is the vehicle for artistic expression. For the artist painting or poetry could have been the vehicle just as well.
Joni Mitchell and Nina Simone are 2 artists who fit what I am trying to say.
They are less concerned with formal musical structure and more concerned with artistic expression.
Total thread hijack.
Just finished reading Just Kids, Patti Smith's book about Robert Mapplethorpe.
There are a number of pop stars that I consider artist first.
Their approach to music comes from artist perspective. Music is the vehicle for artistic expression. For the artist painting or poetry could have been the vehicle just as well.
Joni Mitchell and Nina Simone are 2 artists who fit what I am trying to say.
They are less concerned with formal musical structure and more concerned with artistic expression.
I was thinking just before my initial post that Nina kind of exists 'outside of time' and was going to write about it. But I couldn't express anything coherently. You pretty much nailed what I had in mind.
HarveyCanal"a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
I hate Biopics, and it is insane that they would choose the lead actress to portray Nina Simone basically in blackface. It's really telling of what Hollywood's opinion about Nina was and still is. You never know, because in the hands of a good filmmaker it could still be a good film.
For example, I feel that Andre 3000 absolutely did a fantastic Jimi Hendrix, but the movie was awful, inaccurate, and insulting.
The real question is will the movie still holdup with Nina's fan base giving Zoe Saldana the gasface the entire time. Personally I'm still feeling like Danai Gurira was robbed of a great role. Will you still watch it?
If Sissy Spacek sang in Coal Miner's Daughter and Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon sang in Walk the Line, then an actress can sing in a Nina Simone biopic, even if technology has to help. Saldana was hardly their best choice.
True.
Good call!
Love Georgia Anne Muldrow. I played a show with her about 3 years ago. I think she still lives in my city.
If Sissy Spacek sang in Coal Miner's Daughter and Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon sang in Walk the Line, then an actress can sing in a Nina Simone biopic, even if technology has to help. Saldana was hardly their best choice.
True.
Good call!
Love Georgia Anne Muldrow. I played a show with her about 3 years ago. I think she still lives in my city.
I've tried to get into Nina Simone over the years, but failed. The Mosquito's Tweeter is great, and I like her version of Baltimore, but really I find myself turning off when I try to listen to one of her LP's front to back.
I actually do get that some people ain't into her and her sound. I mean, for me she was definitely an acquired taste... but now for me, to use her take on 'funkier than a mosquito's tweeter' as a reference to her musical output just feels like missing her whole deal. If you have not got into her thus far, then all I can do is encourage you to listen to her two 1965 albums that are some of the most amazing pieces of music ever recorded in my humble opinion:
I listened to her version of "The Ballad Of Hollis Brown" three times in a row last night.
Haunting.
And though a movie about her isn't something I'm interested in, it's nice to think that someone who hasn't heard of her or have been exposed to her music might see it and then seek out her music.
but now for me, to use her take on 'funkier than a mosquito's tweeter' as a reference to her musical output just feels like missing her whole deal...
I just feel like it's a great tune that seems like one even non fans would dig....especially Strut heads.
Oh for sure - I think it's a great track, but for me it just still seems nowhere near the pinnacle of her brilliance, or even representative of some of the music that makes her a genius. I dunno.. maybe I'm the only one that thinks this!
I actually do get that some people ain't into her and her sound. I mean, for me she was definitely an acquired taste... but now for me, to use her take on 'funkier than a mosquito's tweeter' as a reference to her musical output just feels like missing her whole deal. If you have not got into her thus far, then all I can do is encourage you to listen to her two 1965 albums that are some of the most amazing pieces of music ever recorded in my humble opinion:
Thanks for the recommendations. Like others in this thread she's never really done it for me apart from a few songs. Friends of mine love her though. I'll check these out.
Oh for sure - I think it's a great track, but for me it just still seems nowhere near the pinnacle of her brilliance, or even representative of some of the music that makes her a genius. I dunno.. maybe I'm the only one that thinks this!
agreed. to reduce her oeuvre to an ultimate break beat is insulting and totally misses the point.
Oh for sure - I think it's a great track, but for me it just still seems nowhere near the pinnacle of her brilliance, or even representative of some of the music that makes her a genius. I dunno.. maybe I'm the only one that thinks this!
agreed. to reduce her oeuvre to an ultimate break beat is insulting and totally misses the point.
Oh for sure - I think it's a great track, but for me it just still seems nowhere near the pinnacle of her brilliance, or even representative of some of the music that makes her a genius. I dunno.. maybe I'm the only one that thinks this!
agreed. to reduce her oeuvre to an ultimate break beat is insulting and totally misses the point.
Agreed, as well. Good thing literally no one is doing that in this thread.
My main issue with Saldana has nothing to do with her look (Though I understand many who bring this up right away). It's that personally I don't believe she's the type of actress who could ever properly display the angst or bring a believable performance of the mental illness Simone probably battled most of her life. I've just never seen anything she's done to make me think she can.
Personally I would have loved Uzo Aduba in the roll, but I would have hated if the production and/or writing sucked and hurt the performance.
Side note - I have no issue with anyone not being into Nina Simone. But there should be a point that everyone can agree on was her life was somewhat unique and her life during that specific period of history should not be discounted.
I'm probably not going to watch this film. Tho I should, just to not write off things before I actually see it.
Side note - I have no issue with anyone not being into Nina Simone. But there should be a point that everyone can agree on was her life was somewhat unique and her life during that specific period of history should not be discounted.
Even if her personal life is/isnt Part & Parcel w/ her music, I dont think its fair to use that when judging her art.
I dont factor in MJ gettin beat by Joe when listening to Ben. Or Gaye's childhood when listening to Aint That Peculiar.
SPlDEY
Vegas 3,375 Posts
Comments
There is an old thread trashing it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4284010/?ref_=nv_sr_1
b/w
is it any surprise that some classically beautiful woman was inappropriately cast to play nina
I don't say this with any disrespect, and maybe I'm incredibly naïve, but I think casting for the role would be very challenging.
Where to find someone who can act while also possessing a similarly unique beauty and voice as Nina's?
well, it can't have been an easy choice. they would have had to balance the needs/desires of the fan base that know how nina looked, sounded and acted with the wider public who may have only heard her name in passing. Also, some actors are so great at their craft that they can pull off the illusion even when they don't look like the person (eg. anthony hopkins in nixon)
Having said that, i have serious misgivings about this project. I hope they don't churn this into the biopic formula:
1. deprived/abusive/sad childhood
2. discovery and the road to the top
3. the fall - almost always drugs and alcohol and/or mental breakdown
4. the rehabilitation
5. the happy fucking ending where all is made right.
And every 40 plus dark skinned actress isn't the answer either.
I'm not even a fan anyways.
Gasp!
True.
Good call!
Me neither. I can appreciate her steez, but there are better vocalists, better pianists, more outrageous divas etc. I'd like to say she could swing like a muhfug but I can't truthfully. And that is what I like in someone singing tunes of this nature.
I guess the package worked and the hits are nice but really not found anything worth revisiting in the rest of the catalogue.
Not a jazz or cabaret singer.
Best to think of her music as individual artistic statement. Not as part of a musical genre.
Just finished reading Just Kids, Patti Smith's book about Robert Mapplethorpe.
There are a number of pop stars that I consider artist first.
Their approach to music comes from artist perspective. Music is the vehicle for artistic expression. For the artist painting or poetry could have been the vehicle just as well.
Joni Mitchell and Nina Simone are 2 artists who fit what I am trying to say.
They are less concerned with formal musical structure and more concerned with artistic expression.
I was thinking just before my initial post that Nina kind of exists 'outside of time' and was going to write about it. But I couldn't express anything coherently. You pretty much nailed what I had in mind.
Started to think I was alone on that.
For example, I feel that Andre 3000 absolutely did a fantastic Jimi Hendrix, but the movie was awful, inaccurate, and insulting.
The real question is will the movie still holdup with Nina's fan base giving Zoe Saldana the gasface the entire time. Personally I'm still feeling like Danai Gurira was robbed of a great role. Will you still watch it?
- spidey
She and Alice Coltrane got their Mafia.
Love Georgia Anne Muldrow. I played a show with her about 3 years ago. I think she still lives in my city.
- spidey
Super cool!
Fan'dom aside....do yall at least enjoy this jawn?
This tune is way up there for me.
B/w ..... Biopics suck...they never tell the real story.
I just feel like it's a great tune that seems like one even non fans would dig....especially Strut heads.
Haunting.
And though a movie about her isn't something I'm interested in, it's nice to think that someone who hasn't heard of her or have been exposed to her music might see it and then seek out her music.
Thanks for the recommendations. Like others in this thread she's never really done it for me apart from a few songs. Friends of mine love her though. I'll check these out.
agreed. to reduce her oeuvre to an ultimate break beat is insulting and totally misses the point.
+1
Agreed, as well. Good thing literally no one is doing that in this thread.
Personally I would have loved Uzo Aduba in the roll, but I would have hated if the production and/or writing sucked and hurt the performance.
Side note - I have no issue with anyone not being into Nina Simone. But there should be a point that everyone can agree on was her life was somewhat unique and her life during that specific period of history should not be discounted.
I'm probably not going to watch this film. Tho I should, just to not write off things before I actually see it.
Even if her personal life is/isnt Part & Parcel w/ her music, I dont think its fair to use that when judging her art.
I dont factor in MJ gettin beat by Joe when listening to Ben. Or Gaye's childhood when listening to Aint That Peculiar.