Sophie Ndaba speaks out about Beyoncé SA movie reports

Johannesburg - Actress Sophie Ndaba thinks that South Africans, and not Beyoncé, should be given the first opportunity to play Saartjie Baartman.

This comes after several international reports recently claimed that the Drunk in Love singer is set to pen, and possibly star, in a movie on Saartjie's life. Saartjie, a woman from South Africa, was paraded naked in European circuses in the 1800s.

Talking to Sowetan this week, Sophie says that laws should be in place to make sure local actors get given preference for lead roles in films about South African stories.

"If she (Beyoncé) sees herself as a filmmaker, I suppose there is no stopping her. We must put rules in place to use a South African as a lead. For example, if you are doing a story about Sophie, you must put a South African woman to tell the story - even if it's produced by an America. I believe that the best person to tell the story is one of us," she told the paper.

Perhaps Beyoncé can then cast Sophie as Saartjie?