Mary J. Blige will make her feature starring debut in a movie about jazz chanteuse Nina Simone. The MTV Films/Paramount Pictures project will chronicle Simone's ascent to stardom and her relationship with Paris-based manager Clifton Henderson.

Simone, known as the high priestess of soul, rose to fame in the 1960s with signature jazz ballads and such powerful protest songs as "Mississippi Goddam" and "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black," an anthem of the civil rights movement. In 1974, the chanteuse went into exile, eventually ending up in Paris, where she died in 2003.

great casting looks-wise. i just never thought of mary j. as much of an actress...by the way, i just saw her on the cover of a magazine over the weekend. she looked REALLY skinny. not in a good way.

How are Mary's acting chops? I know she's been in some movie or cable feature before but is she good?

Nina Simone was a GENIUS. I can`t wait to see the movie, no matter who portrays her. I think Mary J. Blige could pull it off, because she have a certain toughness, that was a big big part of Nina Simone too. It`ll be like when Angela Bassett played Tina Turner.
Let`s just hope it will be a soundtrack, with Mary singing Nina songs.

JackieBlue said:

it's her debut. Just videos i guess. With the right help she should do fine.

Hey, if Janet can be Justice

Here's hoping Mary will pull it out, but that does seem like completely assbackwards casting. Nina had this ethereal refinement, whereas Mary seems to be the complete opposite of that.

Icicle said:

I don't know.....Angela was pretty untouchable as Tina

MendesCity said:

that's where her acting ability should kick in....if she has any. I haven't seen her in anything except for a snippet of "Prison Song"....and that wasn't very much to go by, so I can't really judge her acting at this point.

Anxiety said:

What magazine?

AnckSuNamun said:

yeah...was that suppose to be an insult...

Mary looks quite rough in that pic

Rhondab said:

MichaelsLight said:

When i see pictures of Mary J. Blige, i see a tough, but beautiful woman, just like Nina Simone. I think Mary J. have a strong personality, like Nina, and that`s why i think she could do a good job in the movie.

the casting is questionable...



But let's hope she pulls it off

Icicle said:

One of the best pics of Mary.
She´s so pretty.

It could work out, Diana Ross got an oscar nomination portraying Billie Holiday in her first real acting job...

That could be really good....or really bad! We'll see (or not...things like this are announced all the time and never see the light of day).

Icicle said:

NO, NO, HELL NO! mary should just lip synch. i like her but she cant just SING a song, she gott a sing, wail and shouT!

Moonwalkbjrain said:

I think she could sing a song like "i wish i knew how it would feel to be free", and sing it well.

jthad1129 said:

I read this earlier today and my first thought was "I really like Mary J, but as Nina?" I'm going to try to give her benefit of the doubt on this. Nina was so special. I saw her perform one time only at a club in Chicago and you talk about presence!! I wonder what her daughter thinks of the casting (not that it would have any bearing on the film). I'll definitely see it if it gets made.

Shouldn't they have casted, oh I don't know.... an actress??

So who would put in her place? Angie Stone, Lauryn Hill, Pam Grier, Sista Soldja?

jthad1129 said:

I would choose a black actress who would be prepared to lipsync to Nina's immaculate tracks. Why cast a different singer??

CinisterCee said:

I agree. But if they were gonna choose a singer, they should go with N'dambi.

CinisterCee said:

Hell, yeah. I've had enough of Jamie Foxx's karaoke shtick.

psykosoul said:

Ooooh, good choice!! You know when people are casting these things they don't look too far beyond the very well known.

She lived in Nijmegen
(my hometown)

Wasn't she in a movie called "Prison Song"? They used to air it on BET all the time (you know how BET is). Q-Tip was in it and MJB played his mother and the guy from 'Lost' played his step-father. If I remember correctly, she's not terrible. Who knows? She might do Nina justice. I'm just excited that a biopic is being made.

jthad1129 said:

Lauryn Hill would have been perfect for this role.