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Nina Simone Biopic Criticized Over Casting And Skin Color

By Elizabeth Blair
Published March 25, 2016 at 3:26 PM CDT

Casting and skin color are at the heart of a controversy surrounding a new movie about the legendary singer Nina Simone. The movie hasn't been released yet, but the casting of Afro-Latina actor Zoe Saldana in the lead has caused an uproar from some Simone fans and family members.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Corrected: March 24, 2016 at 11:00 PM CDT
An earlier Web description of this story incorrectly stated that an affair is portrayed in the film Nina.
Arts & Culture
Elizabeth Blair
Elizabeth Blair is a Peabody Award-winning senior producer/reporter on the Arts Desk of NPR News.
See stories by Elizabeth Blair