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Kelly secretly married Aaliyah, who was then his 15-year-old protégé. No shade, no shade, as they say, but Shipp’s Aaliyah was far from an impression and far from inspiring.
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Lifetime’s low-budget casting choices leave a lot to be desired: Its Brittany Murphy was far from the real thing, and after Lifetime’s first choice for Aaliyah (the Disney star turned singer Zendaya) dropped out, it went with Alexandra Shipp, whose previous experience included Nickelodeon show House of Anubis and … Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. Sissy Spacek’s Loretta Lynn was indistinguishable from the real thing in Coal Miner’s Daughter Jennifer Lopez paved the path for her own singing career by starring in Selena. And they have to nail it: Val Kilmer encapsulated Jim Morrison’s warbly affect in The Doors, and Joaquin Phoenix’s Johnny Cash was magnetic in Walk the Line. That second option is extraordinarily rare! Often, actors are asked to match the singer they’re portraying. Disregarding the families and dishonoring the legacies of celebrated figures who have passed on, big networks want to exploit their stories for a buck.Īnd a key person in Aaliyah’s career, Timbaland, also spent much of the film’s premiere night publicly complaining about its treatment:Ī good biopic always straddles the line between uncanny impression and an actor who can somehow take his or her depiction to the next level.
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Hankerson, again:Ĭonsidering the magnitude of her fans’ affection alone, she deserves to have a tribute much more grand than a television network debut that won’t even consider the perspectives of those who were closest to Aaliyah. Lifetime’s biopic was not only unauthorized, but the family actively spoke out against it. Contrast that with 2005’s Walk the Line, which was based on Johnny Cash’s own autobiographies 2009’s Notorious, which was co-produced by Notorious B.I.G.’s mother, Voletta Wallce 2007’s Control, which was based on Ian Curtis’s widow Deborah’s biography of the late Joy Division singer and 1993’s What’s Love Got to Do With It, based on Tina Turner’s autobiography, I, Tina. Aaliyah was based on journalist Christopher John Farley’s unauthorized book Aaliyah: More Than a Woman, a best-seller published in 2001, not long after the singer’s death. It’s difficult to make a good biopic without the cooperation or blessing of the artist or her estate - and not just for those music rights. No “Are You That Somebody?” no “4 Page Letter” no “More Than a Woman.” If we’re talking Aaliyah, we better see that iconic hawk:
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Are there lessons to be learned before next year’s Whitney Houston movie? Here are a few suggestions.Īaliyah featured four full-length performances (covers of Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative” and Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Get Up,” “The One I Gave My Heart To,” and her Academy Awards performance of the theme song from Anastasia, “Journey to the Past”) with snippets of songs from her first album, including “Let Me Know (At Your Best).” So, a smattering of early Aaliyah tracks alongside a few covers. It was messy from the get-go: The movie’s original star, singer and Disney star Zendaya, dropped out because she was uncomfortable not having the approval of Aaliyah’s family, which was not happy that the film wasn’t getting “a movie-studio release,” according to Jomo Hankerson, Aaliyah’s cousin and president of her label, Blackground Records.Īaliyah: The Princess of R&B was a bland reenactment of the singer’s short life, a soulless retelling of familiar stories that lacked the ability to communicate why Aaliyah was so important and meant so much to fans. This weekend’s Lifetime movie about the life of Aaliyah was the latest example. But as the cable network continues to air biopics about celebrities who have experienced tragedy, death, or tragic deaths - Brittany Murphy, Anna Nicole Smith, Elizabeth Taylor, and, next year, Whitney Houston - it’s hard not to experience the same sine curve of interest and massive disappointment every time. No one expects much from a Lifetime movie.