#BBB NEWS| Zoe Saldana Channels A Broken Woman (Not Nina Simone) In Offbeat Biopic

It’s easy to compare artists these days and it stems from a number of things. The influencers are still just as dynamic as the admirers, samples are noticeable than ever in all genres (blame nostalgia) and authenticity isn’t something that thrives in heavy amounts on the Billboard charts.

To seek out true talent, one must dive deep into the music scene (or your Soundcloud), bringing a new definition to “discovering music.”

When it comes to Nina Simone, there’s no one that can compare, and this is the reason why the biopic falls flat. While watching the Cynthia Mort-directed film, we’re reminded that the singer is the best to ever do it, with endless news headlines and recreations of her legendary album covers making up the opening credits.

Aside from this, the audience learns next to nothing about Ms. Simone, besides her battles with alcoholism, mental illness and a dynamic fashion sense. It also fails to answer the most basic of questions about the singer. Why was her music prolific? Who inspired her? It’s implied that we should know these things, yet uncovers the film’s discrepancies with the singer’s family. If they were involved, we could have seen another side of the singer that was portrayed in the 2015 Oscar-nominated documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone.

#BBB NEWS| Mike Epps On Zoe Saldana In Nina Simone Biopic: “She Did A Good Job”

Zoe Saldana endured a rough couple of months since casting for a Nina Simone biopic revealed that she would take on the lead role. Since then she’s received tough criticism, citing her light complexion and ethnicity as problems for playing a dark-skinned African American woman.

Although many comments have been cut-throat, Mike Epps is stepping forward in Saldana’s defense after viewing the movie ahead of its release.

According to Epps, Zoe “did a good job” portraying the revered vocalist. Epps, who played Richard Pyror in a recent biopic, admitted that it’s hard to portray a famous figure when one generation considers them to be a staple of culture during that period and the other isn’t familiar with them at all.

“The thing about doing biopics is that the younger generation doesn’t really know who they’re coming to see like when Jamie [Foxx] did Ray Charles I’m pretty sure there was a big percentage of the fans who didn’t really know who Ray Charles was – really the younger audience – so they were really just coming to watch Jamie Foxx perform,” Epps told People.