Lifetime's "Aaliyah: Princess of R&B" Scores 3.2M Viewers

[JamesG]

Zendaya Coleman Stars as Aaliyah in Lifetime Biopic
by THE DEADLINE TEAM
June 16, 2014


And three makes a trend: Lifetime announced today that Disney star Zendaya Coleman will play the late R&B star Aaliyah in a biopic about the singer, who died in a plane crash at age 22.

Based on the bestseller Aaliyah: More Than a Woman by former Time magazine music editor Christopher Farley, Aaliyah: Princess of R&B, will be filmed this summer and premiere in the fall.



The new telepic follows Aaliyah’s journey from her "Star Search" debut at age 10 to being crowned Princess of R&B. On August 25, 2001, the singer and eight others were killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas after filming the music video for her single 'Rock the Boat'.

Aaliyah ranks No. 10 on Billboard’s most successful R&B artists of the past 25 years. Zendaya will record four of Aaliyah’s hit singles for the TV movie.





Three weeks ago, the network announced it had greenlighted a biopic on Whitney Houston, who died in 2012, at age 38, while prepping in the Beverly Hills Hilton hotel for a pre-Grammy party.

Both Lifetime biopics about female R&B/pop singers who died young follow VH1′s October premiere of its gone-too-soon movie CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story, detailing the fatal blow to TLC caused by the sudden death of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes at 30.

That one clocked a hefty 4.5 million viewers in its unveiling.

http://www.deadline.com/2014/06/aali...eft-eye-lopes/

[JamesG]

Zendaya Coleman on Portraying Aaliyah: "I Can't Please Everybody"
6/18/14
by Ian Servantes


"If you want something done right, you have to get it done yourself,"—that was the mindset of 17-year-old Zendaya Coleman as she auditioned for the role of Aaliyah in the upcoming Lifetime biopic.

Now that she's nabbed the lead, the goal is perfection.

"I can't please everybody, can’t make everyone happy," she told the Associated Press, "but what I can do is work really hard and just continue to show her legacy. That’s all I’m focused on is really, really portraying her in the best light possible. That’s all it’s about."





One group who will be especially hard to please is the late singer's family. Aaliyah's uncle and former manager, BarryHankerson, told TMZ the family thinks a Lifetime movie is too small of a release.

He also said the family will do everything possible to halt the release of the film, and will block any attempt to use her music.



Aaliyah's official Twitter account also shared a series of optimistic tweets, while acknowledging the family’s reservations:

"Fans we hear your comments and concerns !! unfortunately we cannot confirm the family is behind the project at this time. However, we do ask that you are respectful to the artist playing the role, for they may not fully have or know the details about this role and her family's involvement #teamaaliyah"





Coleman seems to be taking the criticism well, though, as indicated by her tweet Monday night: "I’m just a 17 year old girl who got to play one of her biggest inspirations #positive."

2013 was a huge year for the former star of Disney Channel's "Shake It Up!", as Coleman was the youngest contestant to appear on "Dancing With the Stars" and finished as the runner-up.

Her debut album, released in September, featured the platinum single, 'Replay'.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...aaliyah-712843

[isiahthomas]

I'm gonna check this Aaliyah movie out. I'm a Aaliyah fan and i loved her. I love lightskin black women and i was sad when she died because i couldn't believe she died young. If she hadn't died, she would've been very successful and i believe she would've done more movies. I really liked her in Romeo Must Die with Jet Li, Anthony Anderson, Isaiah Washington, Delroy Lindo. I do wonder if her and R Kelly were really married LOL. It's sad that R Kelly stopped producing her because of the rumor about them being married. I love her Back and Forth song and props to R Kelly for producing that.

[JamesG]

Zendaya Coleman Exits Lifetime Aaliyah Biopic
6/29/14
by THR Staff


Just weeks after unveiling a planned Aaliyah biopic, star Zendaya Coleman has exited the Lifetime project.

"We are sad Zendaya will no longer portray Aaliyah. Production is currently on hold," Lifetime wrote in a statement posted on its Twitter account on Sunday.

A network rep did not comment further.





Aaliyah's family pushed back against the project when it was announced.

Lifetime "didn’t reach out," Aaliyah's cousin Jomo Hankerson told The New York Daily News in a June 24 story. He added that the family was seeing a lawyer about rights issues.

"We want a major studio release along the lines of ‘What's Love Got to Do with It,’ the Tina Turner movie," Hankerson explained to the paper.





The project, titled Aaliyah: Princess of R&B, was to begin filming over the summer with a fall premiere date planned. The script for the biopic was based on a book Aaliyah: More Than a Woman, by Christopher Farley.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...aaliyah-715602

[comedyfreak]

It must have been bad if she dropped out, too many problems or interference.

[isiahthomas]

Well i do agree with Aaliyah's family that if a movie is gonna be done about her that it should come to theatres like Tina Turner movie with Angela Bassett and Larry Fishburne.

[JamesG]

Alexandra Shipp Set as Aaliyah in Lifetime Biopic
7/18/14
by Lesley Goldberg


Lifetime is back in business with its Aaliyah biopic.

Nickelodeon actress Alexandra Shipp (House of Anubis) has been tapped to play the R&B singer, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Wendy Williams, who has boarded the TV movie as an executive producer, first announced the news Friday on Twitter.

Shipp takes over for Disney Channel star Zendaya Coleman, who was cast in the lead role as the R&B singer but exited the project in June.



The project, titled Aaliyah: Princess of R&B is set, to resume filming this summer with a fall premiere date planned.

The script for the biopic was based on a book, Aaliyah: More Than a Woman, by Christopher Farley.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...aaliyah-719572

[JamesG]

Zendaya Explains Why She Exited Lifetime's Aaliyah Biopic: "The Production Value Wasn't There"
The Huffington Post | by Jessica Goodman
7/19/14


Lifetime cast a new lead in its Aaliyah biopic after Zendaya Coleman backed out of the role last month without comment. Nickelodeon actress Alexandra Shipp will now take her place, but Coleman took to Instagram to explain why she exited the made-for-TV movie.

In three separate videos she said she didn't leave because of the haters like many fans thought.





"Let me just explain something, the reason why I chose not to do the Aaliyah movie had nothing to do with haters, or people telling me that I couldn't do it, that I wasn't talented enough, that I wasn't black enough, it had absolutely nothing to do with that.

The main reasons were the production values weren't there, there were complications with the music rights and I just felt that it wasn't being handled delicately considering the situation. I tried my best to reach out to the family on my own. I wrote a letter, but I was unable to do so. Therefore I felt not really morally OK with moving forward with the project.

With all of that being said, congratulations to the new woman playing Aaliyah. I only hope that she doesn't have to deal with half the hate that I had to deal with. Remember we are all human beings just doing what we love to do. Let's practice motivation and love, not discrimination and hate."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/0..._5602329.html?

[JamesG]

Lifetime's Aaliyah Biopic Finds Its Missy Elliott and Timbaland
by Jethro Nededog
August 9, 2014


You can't have a movie about Aaliyah without her musical mentors.

A network representative told TheWrap that Lifetime's Aaliyah biopic has cast Chattrisse Dolabaille and Izaak Smith as producer-rappers Missy Elliott and Timbaland, respectively.

Aaliyah worked with Timbaland and Missy Elliott on her second album, 'One in a Million', which sold 3.7 million copies in the United States and more than eight million copies worldwide.





Dolabaille is a newcomer to Hollywood. She's a Canadian actress, singer and dancer.

Izaak Smith, on the other hand, was a contender on "So You Think You Can Dance Canada". He has appeared in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Mirror Mirror as a dancer.

He also played Cal Rice on popular Canadian series "Tower Prep" and Danny on digital series "Totally Amp'd".





In addition to Dolabaille and Smith, the production has cast:

Rachael Crawford and Sterling Jarvis as Aaliyah's parents Diane and Michael Haughton
Lyriq Bent as her uncle and president of her label, Barry Hankerson
Anthony Grant as Damon Dash
A.J. Saudin and Jesse Sukunda as the older and younger version of Aaliyah's brother Rashad





The working title for the television movie is Aaliyah: Princess of R&B and is based on the bestselling book Aaliyah: More Than a Woman by former TIME music editor Christopher Farley.

The film will be produced by Aaliyah Productions, Inc., with Wendy Williams, Howard Braunstein and Debra Martin Chase executive producing. Bradley Walsh is directing, working from a script by Michael Elliot.

It is filming this summer for a fall premiere.





The proposed television movie about the singer, who died in a plane crash in 2001 at age 22, had been mired in controversy with Aaliyah fans and her family expressing disapproval of the project. There was even a fan petition seeking to shut the production down.

Fans believed that Disney Channel star Zendaya Coleman wasn't the right choice to play Aaliyah. She would later leave the project. Also, Aaliyah's family expressed to TheWrap that it was against the movie because they felt it was more suited to the big screen.

http://www.thewrap.com/lifetimes-aal...and-timbaland/

[isiahthomas]

This ought to be interesting. The director and producer of this are gonna do this movie anyway against Aaliyah's family wishes.

[JamesG]

[isiahthomas]

Thanks JamesG for posting the teaser. The girl that's playing Aaliyah is cute. What's her name? How old is she? I love Aaliyah and I miss her. I wanted to be her man. I love lightskin black women.

[JamesG]

Originally Posted by isiahthomas

Thanks JamesG for posting the teaser. The girl that's playing Aaliyah is cute. What's her name? How old is she? I love Aaliyah and I miss her. I wanted to be her man. I love lightskin black women.

That's 23-year-old Alexandra Shipp, mostly known from the show "House of Anubis".

[isiahthomas]

JamesG, I just saw the commercial yesterday for Aaliyah's movie but they didn't say when it's coming on. When is it coming on?

[isiahthomas]

Nevermind JamesG. I saw the information at imdb.com. It comes on November 15th at 8pm.