Following her response to Michael B. Jordan’s essay on diversity in Hollywood, Zoe Saldana has added on previous comments surrounding the criticism she received for taking on the role of Nina Simone in the upcoming biopic Nina.
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“I didn’t think I was right for the part, and I know a lot of people will agree, but then again, I don’t think Elizabeth Taylor was right for Cleopatra either,” she said in the July issue of InStyle magazine.
In reaction to her casting as the iconic blues singer, fans and critics alike suggested the 36-year-old actress was too light-skinned to play the part. Saldana maintains that true artistry is both colorless and genderless.
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“It’s more complex than just ‘Oh, you chose the Halle Berry look-alike to play a dark, strikingly beautiful, iconic black woman,’” she added. “The truth is, they chose an artist who was willing to sacrifice herself. We needed to tell her story because she deserves it.”
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