L'hommage: Nina Simone | Magazine Rack

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY (No. 168) 4/1993

THE RETURN OF NINA SIMONE: SOON TO BE A HOUSEHOLD NAME
by Melina Gerosa

   No offense to Nina Simone, but younger viewers of “Point of No Return” have been known
to wonder if the singer so effective at quelling the beast in Bridget Fonda’s angry character is
merely a screenwriter’s invention. Far from it. As a matter of fact, the now 60-year-old High
Priestess of Soul has been at it since the ‘50s, lending her edgy, throaty androgyny to every
genre from gospel to R&B to raging black protest to torch songs (a collection of the latter,
entitled “A Single Woman,” is due out from Elektra in July).

   “Point of No Return’s” director, John Badman, could think of no better voice to echo his
heroine’s raw emotion. “Simone is a woman who doesn’t take any crap from anybody,” says
Badham, who included five of her songs on the Hans Zimmer soundtrack (RCA). The fact that
the seasoned diva’s rebel yell may be a nuance lost on the twenty-something set did not daunt
the director. “Audiences don’t like to be spoon-fed the same old stuff. I didn’t want to just
exploit Nirvana because all the kids are listening to that,” says Badham. He has had good luck
sticking to his guns in the past. While he was making “Saturday Night Fever,” the movie with
the biggest-selling soundtrack of all time, Badham says, “I played the Bee Gees tape for the
music people. They all said, ‘This is no good. Can’t we get some Box Scaggs?’”

   Recommended Simone: ‘The Best of Nina Simone’ (Philips), ‘The Best of Nina Simone’
(Novus), ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’ (Mercury), ‘The Blues’ (Novus).