Out Of Tune: The 9 Worst Music Biopic Castings Ever

If you're a wee bit sensitive about your beloved music icons, we here at VIBE understand and take news. The news about 23-year-old New York native accepting the role of the beloved TLC rapper caused an interesting response from you all. So when it comes time to make a biopic and Hollywood studios cast party crashers to fill such memorable shoes, we're likely to get defensive about their choices.

For instance, we asked you all if Zoe Saldana could pull off her role in the Nina Simone biopic. Our trepidation about that film and others got us thinking about notable musician biopic casting decisions of the past. Check out the 10 worst above and let us know what you think below.

1. Diana Ross as Billie Holliday in Lady Sings the Blues —

Starring: Richard Pryor, Billy Dee Williams
Year: 1972
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 75%

When this movie comes on most people change the channel these days. It's not that Lady doesn't sing the blues. Ross in the lead role would be considered hammy and unlikable to nitpicky cinephiles, but the movie amounts to little more than a two-hour karaoke session. Oh, and smooth lines from Billy Dee Williams.

2. Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone in 'Untitled Nina Simone Biopic' —

Starring: David Oyelowo, Zoe Saldana
Year: 2013
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: N/A

The sexy and brave Star Trek actress has been attempting to embody the chic-ness of the late Nina Simone in the upcoming biopic. Consider the picture above: the beige-coloured accessory paired with a matching Roubi L'Roubi shift dress and cape. Acting skills aside, Zoe wearing a prosthetic nose and dark make-up to embody Simone doesn't make fill us with anticipation to see in theaters soon. The decision to cast Zoe as Nina has been met with strong criticism—consider us one of them.

3. Amy Adams as Janis Joplin in 'Janis Joplin: Get It While You Can' —

Starring: Amy Adams
Year: 2013
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: N/A

You should have seen the IMDB comments section when they learned that Amy Adams would play a rock legend. Her sweet, girlish film persona (which may get bruised up in this year's Man of Steel) could not be farther from the gritty, hard-drinking, raspy-voiced Janis Joplin. But if those indications are true, Adams landing the role in Janis Joplin: Get It While You Can doesn't make us picture her doe-eyed self as the Texan crooner who died too young.

4. Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett in 'The Runaways' —

Starring: Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon
Year: 2010
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 68%

The real-life rock group The Runaways were the first major all-girl punk band. With Twilight star in the lead role as Joan Jett, Kristen Stewart turned in a bleary, excessive, and altogether mediocre effort in this big-screen biography of the '70s rock band.

5. Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis in 'Great Balls of Fire' —

Starring: Winona Ryder, John Doe, Alec Baldwin
Year: 1989
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 65%

The youngest of the Quaid bunch delivered an over-the-top caricature of a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. The film itself was broad brush strokes over a convoluted canvas involving one of the zaniest personalities to emerge from the 1950s. Dennis Quaid's weak Southern yokel accent and overused of the crazy eye found him turning Lewis's devilish mannerisms into a cheap joke.

6. Terrence Howard as Adult Jackie Jackson in 'The Jacksons: An American Dream' —

Starring: Angela Bassett, Holly Robinson Peete, Jason Weaver
Year: 1992
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 86%

It has been shown on TV One, BET, Centric and VH1. It is usually followed by one of three things: 1) How come no one could prevent the Pepsi fire? 2) Moonwalking to your refrigerator. And 3) Wondering who let Terrence Howard wear that outfit as Jackie Jackson! He should thank his lucky stars that The Best Man came along.

7. Anthony Mackie as Tupac Shakur in 'Notorious' —

Starring: Derek Luke, Angela Bassett, Jamal Woolard
Year: 2009
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 50%

Word got many into a frenzy when it was announced that B.I.G.'s life would hit the big screen. A collective groan of displeasure followed when Anthony Mackie's name was publicized as his fellow hip-hop martyr. It's not that he didn't have enough thug passion to pull off the role, it's just that there's only one 'Pac.

8. Hayden Christensen as Billy Quinn in 'Factory Girl' —

Starring: Sienna Miller, Guy Pearce, Jimmy Fallon
Year: 2006
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 19%

Christensen played a fictionalized version of Bob Dylan in this Edie Sedgwick biopic. Dylan's lawyers threatened to sue Anakin Skywalker and the makers of the film, though Christensen's wooden performance probably wasn't why.

9. Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison in 'The Doors' —

Starring: Meg Ryan, Kevin Dillon, Frank Whaley
Year: 1991
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 59%

Oliver Stone focused upon Morrison the inebriate, the Philanderer, or the pretentious Lizard King throughout the whole film. Val Kilmer as the center role sucked the wonder from the biopic about the pioneering band. Armed with fake hair and saying silly things, Val Kimer's portrayal of Jim Morrison was just awful—and worse in retrospect.

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