Nina Simone as portrayed by Mary J Blige

Watching the Grammy's last night Mary J Blige was talking about a movie where she will play Nina Simone. As a big fan of Nina's I am excited about a movie of her life. As Mary J said it will be an accurate portrayal of Nina's struggles with depression and substance abuse as well I am sure the music and her incredible work for civil rights. I will be looking forward to this movie.

http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/artic...05/story.jhtml

As you know, I'm a huge fan of Nina Simone as well.
I will go see that movie for sure. Do you when it's coming out? I've read "I Put a Spell on You" few years back. Perhaps, I should read it again since I've love her music more and more over the years.

Thanks for the info.
JRA

Sign me up. Along with Harry Belafonte "Live at Carneigie Hall", Nina's live album was one of my Mom's fave. She spun it all the time. My fave song is her live rendition of "Little Liza Jane". Jeeze Lousie what voice. Never heard anything like it before nor since. Amazing.

Worf

So everyone understands the context of my post. I am a fan of Mary J, but her playing Nina Simone? I don't think so, she just does not have the vocal chops for that. :nono:

I don't think the voice is a critical requirement for playing the role of a singer. Which biopics of singers had a starring actor with vocal talents equal to the subject's?

I'm just wondering how well Mary J Blige can act. Has she been in any movies yet?

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Originally Posted by 02audionoob

I don't think the voice is a critical requirement for playing the role of a singer. Which biopics of singers had a starring actor with vocal talents equal to the subject's?

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My wife likes the movie Mamma Mia in which a bunch of well known actors spend 1.5 hrs dismantling Abba songs. It's the most atrocious singing I have ever heard. Pierce Brosnan is unbarable, even modern technology cannot help him.

Surely MJB can do better than these clowns...

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Originally Posted by poppachubby

My wife likes the movie Mamma Mia in which a bunch of well known actors spend 1.5 hrs dismantling Abba songs. It's the most atrocious singing I have ever heard. Pierce Brosnan is unbarable, even modern technology cannot help him.

Surely MJB can do better than these clowns...

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Agreed...As long as you're a movie watcher instead of a music critic, I'm certain the vocals will be a non-issue.

I'm willing to give Mary J. the benefit of the doubt... the fact that she isn't an experienced actress isn't necessarily cause for alarm. Jennifer Hudson made a similar leap a few years ago and surprised a lot of folks (and she was even more lightly regarded as a 'serious' artist). I'm much more concerned about the MTV Films pedigree on this movie mentioned in the article. Nina deserves a film with a muscular soul that's as daring as she was, not the type of by-the-numbers biopic that's become de rigeur these days (or as Noel Murray put it over at the AV Club, "another one of those life-of-an-entertainer films that reduces an artist to [their] most embarrassing moments"). I shudder when they talk about wanting to make another Ray. Jamie Foxx's performance surely wasn't to blame, but in my opinion that film as a whole was cringe-inducingly artless... a pandering entertainment of the lamest sort. And for all his merits, Ray Charles was a pop artist-- and the only thing I mean by that is that all that movie needed to do to really do him justice was to be entertaining. Nina's in another realm entirely. Anyway, I've learned long ago that these things are inevitable and no amount of hand-wringing on my part on the internet is going to matter in the slightest. I'll try to keep an open mind and hope that this is the rare biopic in the mold of Ali or La Vie En Rose... I just can't get that excited.

-Coop

For the last twenty years or so, Hollywood has wanted to make a biopic about Janis Joplin. Many women have been imagined into the role, probably most notably Melissa Etheridge due to her vocal abilities. But... she can't act! The project has never gone anywhere. I would expect a similar problem here. Mary J. Blige would clearly be picked to play Nina Simone because somebody feels that she can sing. Picking actors without any consideration of their ability to act is a recipe for disaster but you never know.

Diana Ross did very well as Billie Holliday in "Lady Sings the Blues" and even earned an Oscar nomination. A good example of how casting a singer can work. IMHO, this is the exception, not the rule.

Angela Basset was the perfect choice to play Tina Turner in "What's Love Got To Do With It?" but didn't sing a single note. She was cast due to her acting ability and Tina's vocals were dubbed in. I personally prefer this approach. If I am to watch a movie about a singer, I prefer to hear the singer that I'm interested in. I'm a huge Nina Simone fan but frankly can't stand MJB. I can't for the life of me think of a reason why I'd go to a movie about Nina where I wouldn't hear Nina sing a single note.

I wonder if there's been any consideration of using Nina's daughter, "Simone," for the role. She has both acting and singing credentials and would add to the interesting-factor for me if the movie is set on using new vocals.

In the end, only one voice can convey Nina, and it belonged only to the owner.

This movie to me will give me a chance to learn more about Nina and her life and times. I have many of her recordings so I am not concerned if Mary J sounds like Nina. As I learned more about Billie Holiday from "Lady Sings The Blues" regardless if Diana Ross sounded like Billie so I hope to learn more about Nina.


I am impresssed with the recording of "Simone on Simone" where her daughter performs many of the songs her mother had performed. Nina's voice to me has that sound of struggle and frustration that her life must have had. I hear some of that same pain in Mary J's voice. Simone's voice sounds almost too happy and optomistic to play her mother. I can hear what a hard life sounds like in a voice.

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Originally Posted by 02audionoob

I don't think the voice is a critical requirement for playing the role of a singer. Which biopics of singers had a starring actor with vocal talents equal to the subject's?

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I guess that honor would go to Dreamgirls. Though I might venture to say that the girls in Dreamgirls could probably out sing the originals the Supremes fo sho!

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Originally Posted by poppachubby

I'm just wondering how well Mary J Blige can act. Has she been in any movies yet?

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She has been in a minor role in Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself. She played a bartender/singer in which she just acted like herself. The part was no stretch for her, so I would not call it acting by any means.

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Originally Posted by Sir Terrence the Terrible

I guess that honor would go to Dreamgirls. Though I might venture to say that the girls in Dreamgirls could probably out sing the originals the Supremes fo sho!

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Dreamgirls is a dramatized musical, rather than a biopic. I realize the similarity to the Supremes wouldn't be coincidental, but the format of a musical is different than a biographical movie and relies heavily on vocals.

I'd think someone like Erykah Badu would make more sense, but MLB has the name recognition and street cred that producers crave.

I'd turn out to see Erykah just for Erykah.

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Originally Posted by 02audionoob

I'd turn out to see Erykah just for Erykah.

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I agree.

My choice for Nina Simone would be Faith Evans. Now that sista can sing anything.

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Originally Posted by 02audionoob

Dreamgirls is a dramatized musical, rather than a biopic. I realize the similarity to the Supremes wouldn't be coincidental, but the format of a musical is different than a biographical movie and relies heavily on vocals.

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Funny, I looked at Dreamgirls as more of a biographical than a musical. But that is me though. The similarities to the history of the Surpreme's isn't an accident.

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Originally Posted by Sir Terrence the Terrible

Funny, I looked at Dreamgirls as more of a biographical than a musical. But that is me though. The similarities to the history of the Surpreme's isn't an accident.

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The similarities of Dreamgirls to fact are actually not relevant to my point. I was making the distinction between movies that are musicals and those that aren't. In a musical, the characters break into song as part of the dialogue. Vocals are an integral part of the format.

A biopic is clearly biographical in intent. Although it too is dramatized, the names are not changed and the actors don't use songs as dialogue...and of course they don't claim in the credits that any similarity to fact is unintentional.