''Nina'' is a 2016 American biographical film written and directed by

Cynthia Mort Cynthia Mort (born June 18, 1956) is an American director, screenwriter, and producer. Mort has worked primarily in television since beginning her career in 1994, writing for the sitcom '' Roseanne''. Her notable works include the HBO series ...

. The film focuses on American musician and civil rights activist

Nina Simone Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blu ...

, portrayed by Zoe Saldana. The film also stars

David Oyelowo David Oyetokunbo Oyelowo ( ; born 1 April 1976) is a British actor, director and producer. His accolades include a Critics' Choice Award and two NAACP Image Awards as well as nominations for two Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards ...

Ella Thomas Ella A. Thomas (born 1981) is an Eritrean American actress, model and producer. Biography Thomas was born to an Eritrean mother from Asmara and an American Air Force officer, who was stationed in Eritrea. When she was still a child, Thoma ...

, and

Mike Epps Michael Elliot Epps (born November 18, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He played Day-Day Jones in ''Next Friday'' and its sequel, ''Friday After Next'', and also appeared in ''The Hangover'' and '' The Hangover Part III'' as "Bl ...

. The film was released on April 22, 2016, in a limited release and through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

RLJ Entertainment RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) is an American film production company and home video distributor, distributing film and television productions in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 340 ...

. The film was met with heavy criticism and Simone's family refused to endorse it. Saldana later said she regretted accepting the lead role.

Plot

In 1988 Nina Simone is financially unsound, mentally unstable and an alcoholic. Her 1960s heyday is far behind her. After threatening a lawyer with a gun, she is forcibly committed to a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociat ...

for twenty-four hours. While in the hospital, Nina hires

orderly In healthcare, an orderly (also known as a ward assistant, nurse assistant or healthcare assistant) is a hospital attendant whose job consists of assisting medical and nursing staff with various nursing and medical interventions. The highest ro ...

Clifton Henderson (

) as an assistant. He accompanies her back to

Bouc-Bel-Air Bouc-Bel-Air (; oc, Boc) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southern France. It is situated between Aix-en-Provence to the north, Gardanne to the east, Marseille to the south and Vitrolle ...

, France. Nina drinks heavily and refuses to take her medication. She proves to be difficult and confrontational. She verbally abuses Clifton, assaults a patron at a nightclub performance and makes Clifton get her random men with whom she has

one-night stand A one-night stand or one-night sex is a single sexual encounter in which there is an expectation that there shall be no further relations between the sexual participants. It draws its name from the common practice of a one-night stand, a single ...

s. Her behavior drives Clifton back home to America. Nina is told by her doctor that the results of a biopsy are serious and she needs treatment for cancer. Nina arrives unannounced at Clifton's family home in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, much to the amusement of his family and his embarrassment. She tells Clifton that she wants him to be her manager. He is hesitant, but agrees to work for her again. Clifton attempts to book shows in France, but nearly no one wants to deal with Nina's difficult behavior. Nonetheless, his efforts eventually pay off and she performs marvelously at a gig. He gets a studio and she begins recording new music. It is implied that they begin a sexual relationship. Worried about her health, he convinces her to undergo surgery for her cancer. Once recovered, Nina returns to America for a live performance in

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

. A crowd flocks to see her and she opens her concert with the song " Feeling Good."

Cast

* Zoe Saldana as

as Clifton Henderson *

Kevin Mambo Kevin Mambo (born June 29, 1972) is a Zimbabwean-Canadian actor and musician. He is best known for his role on the CBS Daytime serial ''Guiding Light'' in the role of Marcus Williams, which won him two Daytime Emmys and for his role as Fela Anik ...

as Gilles *

Ronald Guttman Ronald Guttman (born 12 August 1952) is a Belgian actor, theatrical producer and film producer. Career Guttman was born in Uccle. He started appearing in French language productions in Europe in 1975, appearing in his first English-language film ...

as Henri Edwards * Chuma Gault as Nina's Husband *

Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as on ...

Keith David Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his signature deep voice and commanding screen presence in over 300 roles across film, stage, television, and interactive media. He has starred in such films as '' T ...

as Clifton's Dad *

Ella Joyce Ella Joyce (born Cherron Hoye; June 12, 1954) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Eleanor Emerson on the Fox comedy-drama sitcom '' Roc'', which originally ran from 1991 until 1994. Early years The daughter of an autowo ...

as Clifton's Mom *

Lorraine Hansberry Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965) was a playwright and writer. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best-known work, the play ''A Raisin in the Sun'', highli ...

Marianne Muellerleile Marianne Muellerleile (born November 26, 1948) is an American actress. Early life Muellerleile was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Margaret (née Keaney) and Cecil E. Muellerleile, an American football player, coach, and college a ...

as Nurse Mary * Yasmine Golchan as Doctor Cousier *

Siena Goines Siena Goines (born March 28, 1969) is an American film and television actress. She has guest-starred on the soap opera '' Passions'', the police drama '' The Division'' and the medical drama '' Private Practice''. History Goines was born in Wa ...

as Heather *

Camille Natta Camille Joann Natta (born 19 November 1977) is a French actress. Education She graduated from St Peter's College, Oxford St Peter's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford and is located in New Inn Hall Stre ...

as Michelle Laroche *

Michael Vartan Michael S. Vartan (born November 27, 1968) is a French-American actor, known for his role as Michael Vaughn on the ABC television action drama ''Alias'', his role on the TNT medical drama '' Hawthorne'', and his role on the '' E!'' drama '' The A ...

as Radio Interviewer

Production

Development

In May 2010, it was announced

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

and

had been cast in the film as

, and Clifton Henderson respectively, with

directing the film from a screenplay she had written, and production planned for September of that year. In August 2012, it was announced that Zoe Saldana, who is Afro-Latina, had been cast in the film, replacing Blige as Simone, Blige having exited due to financial issues with the project. The casting of Saldana caused controversy, with Simone Kelly, Simone's daughter, saying, "My mother was raised at a time when she was told her nose was too wide, her skin was too dark. Appearance-wise this is not the best choice." In 2014, Mort had begun taking legal action after being cut out of the decision-making process, making her unhappy with the project she spent several years developing.

Filming

Production was originally scheduled to begin in September 2010 in France.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began on October 16, 2012, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. To more accurately portray Simone's likeness, light-skinned Afro-Latina Saldana used dark makeup, nasal and dental prosthetics, and wigs when playing to role of Simone for the film. These adjustments to Saldana's natural appearance continued to raise controversy with Nina Simone fans, viewers and even racial justice advocates like

Ta-Nehisi Coates Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates ( ; born September 30, 1975) is an American author and journalist. He gained a wide readership during his time as national correspondent at ''The Atlantic'', where he wrote about cultural, social, and political issues, parti ...

Release

In September 2015, RLJ Entertainment acquired U.S distribution rights to the film with a planned December 2015 release. The film was released on April 22, 2016, in a limited release and through

. After the film's trailer had been released, Simone's estate's

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account tweeted at Saldana, writing, "Please take Nina's name out of your mouth. For the rest of your life. Hopefully people begin to understand this is painful. Gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, nauseating, soul-crushing. It shall pass, but for now." Robert L. Johnson, the chairman and founder of RLJ, issued a statement, saying, "Zoe Saldana delivers an exceptional and mesmerizing tribute to Nina Simone. She gave her heart and soul to the role and displayed her extraordinary talent. The most important thing is that creativity or quality of performance should never be judged on the basis of color, or ethnicity, or physical likeness. Quality entertainment should be measured by the sheer force of creativity and the commitment that an actor or actress brings to the performance."

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 2% based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 3.40/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "A wholly misguided tribute to its subject's searing talent and enduring impact, ''Nina'' is the cinematic equivalent of a covers project featuring all the wrong artists." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 27 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". In August 2020, Saldana said she regretted taking on the role. Having previously defended the role, Saldana, who identifies as Afro-Latina, said, "I should have never played Nina. I should have done everything in my power, with the leverage that I had 10 years ago--a different leverage but it was leverage nonetheless. I should have tried everything in my power to cast a Black woman to play an exceptionally perfect Black woman."

References

External links

* {{Nina Simone 2016 films 2016 drama films 2016 biographical drama films 2010s historical films American biographical drama films Biographical films about musicians British biographical drama films Casting controversies in film Cultural depictions of activists Cultural depictions of American women Cultural depictions of jazz musicians Ealing Studios films Films shot in Los Angeles Nina Simone African-American-related controversies in film Race-related controversies in film 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s British films