Zoe Saldana was in the midst of controversy when she decided to take on the role of Nina Simone in the legend’s upcoming biopic, but Lynn Whitfield is hoping that Zoe will blow all her critics away with an incredible performance.
The Emmy Award winning actress explained that when it comes to acting, sometimes looks might not be the most important aspect when it comes to casting.
According to the Grio, Lynn said:
“Be it performance driven or features looking similar, the responsibility of the artist and the entire team is that when you’re seeing a biopic do you forget who that person is, and believe they are the spirit that they’re bringing through. In the sisterhood of thespians, all I will do is pull for her that she does. She’s certainly shown tremendous intelligence in all of her performances up until now.”
As far as performance goes, it’s likely that Zoe will indeed do a great job. Then again, the question about casting Zoe never really had to do with whether or not people believed she would be a great actress.
Her roles in Avatar and Star Trek already labeled her as a great actress hands down, but during her interview with Latina Magazine she revealed that she almost passed up her role on the 2009 Star Trek movie.
She told Latina Magazine:
“I think I was just a little beside myself because after the treat and the gift of booking Avatar and being in the middle of shooting, to be able to then do another great movie with another great filmmaker back to back — I was a little overwhelmed and I thought: ‘Maybe I should just take some time off and focus and just rest?'”
She then explained that it was her managers and her Trekkie mom that talked her into it:
“My team was like, ‘Zoe, are you stupid? Don’t let fear immobilize you. This is an amazing opportunity to step into the shoes of an iconic character in an iconic series and it’s in space and you’re a sci-fi buff.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God, who am I kidding? Absolutely. I’ll totally do it.'”
Of course, her interview wasn’t all about Star Trek: Into Darkness, she also opened up about her personal life – particularly her break up with Bradley Cooper.
“I feel it [heartache], I allow myself to feel it. Of course everyone around me will notice how it made me feel, but I tend to recover very easily,” she said, referring to her recently ended relationship with Bradley Cooper.
“When I lose, when my heart is broken, when I lose a competition, when I don’t get something, when something doesn’t go my way or I have a heartbreak or whatever… maybe I haven’t really fallen in love yet, had that crash boom bam in my life yet, but I tend to recover… healthy and smoothly. And I’ve been that way up until now. And if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Saldana said she sees having a partner as a nice plus, but not a necessity.
“I need water, you know what I’m saying?” she said. “I need to exercise, I need to eat. To be with a man, should be a want. I don’t need anybody.”
Well that’s certainly a great mentality to have.
You can check out the full interview in the May issue of Latina Magazine.
