Zoe Saldana tearfully admits she regrets playing iconic musician Nina Simone

When Zoe Saldana agreed to play jazz, blues and folk singer Nina Simone in the 2016 biopic Nina, her decision was met with criticism and sparked conversations about colorism given that her skin is lighter than the legendary performer and Civil Rights activist. Fast forward to today and the Guardians of the Galaxy star seriously regrets taking on the role.“I should have never played Nina," Saldana said on August 4 in a conversation with Pose creator Steven Canals. "I should have done everything in my power with the leverage that I had 10 years ago–which was 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."

 

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Zoe Saldana (@zoesaldana) sits down with "Pose" (@poseonfx) creator and executive producer Steven Canals (@stevencanals) to chat about Afro-Latinidad, colorism in the Latinx community, Nina Simone, and more. #AfroLatinx #AfroLatinidad #BESE #ZoeSaldana #StevenCanals #Pose #PoseFX #AfroLatinos #Dominican #PuertoRican

A post shared by BESE (@bese) on Aug 3, 2020 at 6:54pm PDT

Saldana has a Dominican father and Puerto Rican mother, and identifies as Afro-Latina. She was met with a lot of backlash when she decided to play Simone, especially when it came out that she darkened her skin and used a prosthetic to widen her nose in order to look more like the iconic singer. "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," Simone’s daughter, Simone Kelly, told the New York Times in 2012.In the conversation with Canals, Saldana revealed that she’s reconsidered her position on the casting in the years since the film’s release and now recognizes why it was problematic. "I thought back then that I had the permission because I was a Black woman. And I am. But, it's Nina. And Nina had a life and a journey that should be honoured to the specific detail… she deserved better,” she said."I’m sorry, I’m so sorry because I love her music. We've been appropriating ourselves with someone like Nina Simone for a very long time,” she said through tears. “And I just want her story to be told and I want it to be right because she deserves it.”In addition to playing Gamora in the Guardians of the Galaxy films (and in other MCU offerings), 42-year-old Saldana also plays Neytiri in the Avatar franchise and played the role of Lt. Uhura in the newer Star Trek films. When she was first approached to play the role of Simone, she initially turned it down. For a year.“The script probably would still be lying around, going from office to office, agency to agency, and nobody would have done it,” Saldana said in a 2016 interview with Allure. “Female stories aren't relevant enough, especially a black female story," she said."I made a choice. Do I continue passing on the script and hope that the 'right' black person will do it, or do I say, 'You know what? Whatever consequences this may bring about, my casting is nothing in comparison to the fact that this story must be told… The fact that we're talking about her, that Nina Simone is trending? We f---ing won," Saldana continued. "For so many years, nobody knew who the f--- she was. She is essential to our American history. As a woman first, and only then as everything else."[video_embed id='1989099']Before you go: Bestselling author Nic Stone on the importance of Black representation in YA literature[/video_embed]