Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B
| Aaliyah | |
|---|---|
Promotional poster
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| Based on |
Aaliyah: More than a Woman by Christopher John Farley |
| Written by | Michael Elliot |
| Directed by | Bradley Walsh |
| Starring |
Alexandra Shipp Clé Bennett Elise Neal |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) |
Debra Martin Chase Howard Braunstein Wendy Williams |
| Cinematography | André Pienaar |
| Editor(s) | David B. Thompson |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Distributor | Lifetime Television |
| Release | |
| Original release |
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Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B is a 2014 made for television biographical film that was directed by Bradley Walsh and based on the biography Aaliyah: More than a Woman by Christopher John Farley. The film premiered on the Lifetime Channel on November 15, 2014 and was met with criticism in its early stages of production due to Aaliyah’s family's disapproval of Lifetime's choice to create the film. The film drew 3.2 million viewers upon its premiere, making it the second highest rated television film of 2014, despite overwhelmingly negative reviews.
The film details the life of musician Aaliyah (Alexandra Shipp) and her rise to fame in her early teens until her life was cut short in a 2001 plane crash in the Bahamas.
In June 2014 Lifetime announced their intent to film a biopic that would focus on the life of Aaliyah. This decision was met with criticism by the singer's family, who did not believe that Lifetime was the best venue for the film and that they did not approve of the production as a whole. As the family held control over the masters to Aaliyah's recordings, they did not allow Lifetime access to that material, resulting in the company having to record covers for the songs used in the film. Four of her songs (two covers) were used in the film: the Isley Brothers' "At Your Best (You Are Love)," Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up," "Journey to the Past" and "The One I Gave My Heart To."
The decision to bring on actress and singer Zendaya to perform as Aaliyah was also met with criticism, as people felt that Zendaya was too light skinned and did not greatly resemble Aaliyah. She later dropped out of the project and the role of Aaliyah was recast with Alexandra Shipp. Zendaya explained her reasons for leaving the production, stating that "The main reason is that the production value wasn't there, there were complications with the music rights, and I just felt like it wasn't being handled delicately considering the situation", also adding she tried contacting the singer's family to no avail. In order to prepare for her role, Alexandra Shipp watched archive footage of Aaliyah and listened to her songs in order to try to mimic her mannerisms and singing voice.
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