12 Movie Casting Decisions That Fans Couldn't Handle

3. Zoe Saldana - Nina Simone (Nina)

After Mary J. Blige had to drop out of playing Nina Simone in Cynthia Mort's biopic, she was replaced with...Zoe Saldana.

A tidal wave of controversy ensued once the first set pictures made their way online, depicting Saldana in garish prosthetics and having been "blacked up" to more closely resemble the legendary crooner.

The issue was ultimately two-fold: Saldana's casting felt like a cynical attempt to lend the movie a brand name above all other priorities, given that Saldana's facial structure is nothing like Simone's (hence the prosthetics), to say nothing of her decidedly lighter skin tone.

When we're talking about a fictional superhero, that's fine, but a real-life figure? It's important to get the facts right. Simone's family added to the dogpile by calling Saldana's casting "Gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, nauseating, soul-crushing." Yikes.

Did It Work Out?: Not remotely for anyone involved. Saldana really tried to make it work, but her lack of resemblance to Simone was distracting - as were the attempts to make her more so - and the film itself was a painfully stodgy, woefully generic biopic.

Released more than three years after principal photography wrapped, the film was a box office dud and is currently rocking a brutal 2% on Rotten Tomatoes.

As much as we all like Zoe Saldana, this was a most ill-advised career move. Thankfully for her, few people actually bothered to watch it.