Zoe Saldana to play singer Nina Simone

Los Angeles: ‘Avatar’ actress Zoe Saldana has joined the cast of ‘Nina’, a biopic on iconic singer Nina Simone. She will play the lead role. Actor David Oyelowo will star as her manager, Clifton Henderson, reports a website. The movie will give an account of Simone`s rise as a singer-songwriter in the 1950s, and how she became involved in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, even advocating violence. It will also tell how tax issues forced her to relocate to other countries, including France, where she passed away in 2003. Henderson was her assistant and manager later in life. The movie is due to begin production here Oct 16. Mark Burton, Barnaby Thompson, Stuart Parr and Ben Latham Jones are producing the film. IANS