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FILE PHOTO: Actress Zoe Saldana To Play Nina Simone In Biopic Role
(FILE PHOTO) In this composite image a comparison has been made between Nina Simone (L) and actress Zoe Saldana. Zoe Saldana will reportedly play Nina Simone in a film biopic by writer and director Cynthia Mort and executive producer Jimmy Lovine. ***LEFT IMAGE*** UNITED KINGDOM – JANUARY 01: Photo of Nina SIMONE; (Photo by David Redfern/Redferns) ***RIGHT IMAGE*** BEVERLY HILLS, CA – SEPTEMBER 21: Actress Zoe Saldana arrives at the “Machine Gun Preacher” Los Angeles premiere at Academy of Television Arts & Sciences on September 21, 2011 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Relativity Media)
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Who doesn’t love a juicy biopic? It’s delicious getting a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of luminaries — but only when the casting works. The actor doesn’t even have to look exactly like the icon being portrayed, as long as the performance is genius, we’re all in (hello, Ali and Mommie Dearest). But more often than not, biopic casting goes way off the rails. Lindsay Lohan and her plumped-up lips as Elizabeth Taylor? Travesty! Teenybopper-voiced Jennifer Love Hewitt as the luminous Audrey Hepburn? Unfathomable. Colin Farrell mincing about in blonde highlights as Alexander the Great? We’re giggling just thinking about it.
As we head to the theaters to see Idris Elba in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, and eagerly anticipate the biopics of Jimi Hendrix and Elton John, let’s take a look at some of the ones that didn’t hit the mark. Here’s hoping we don’t get angry letters from Leo fans, regarding his prosthetic-y J. Edgar misfire.
Don’t miss this very important poll: Who’s hotter, the real-life biopic subjects or the actors playing them?
[Photos: Getty Images, ABC, Weinstein Co., Imagine Entertainment, Sony, Lifetime]