Lifetime’s biopic, Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B, aired Nov. 15 and has experienced a lot of controversy since Lifetime first announced details about it several months ago. The biopic had 3.2 million viewers and was the second-highest rated movie on all of cable so far this year. However, many fans of Aaliyah, who died in a tragic plane crash in 2001, were not pleased with the movie’s portrayal of the singer’s life.
The controversy began when fans learned that Aaliyah’s family was against the movie and denied producers the right to use any of her music. Her family believes she deserves a movie on the big screen and not a cable movie. Many fans argue that that should have been reason enough for Lifetime to stop the movie’s production.
The really shocking part about the movie is that it tells an extremely bland story about Aaliyah and bears little resemblance to her life and career. The movie is also based on journalist Christopher John Farley’s book, Aaliyah: More Than A Woman, which is also said to be a dull look into the artist’s life.
Fans were also very upset about the casting. Aside from Alexandra Shipp, a rising young star who played Aaliyah and previously appeared in the television movie Drumline 2, none of the cast remotely resembled the people they portrayed, and their acting only made it worse.
Twitter was in major uproar over the movie. Many fans lashed out about Aaliyah’s legacy being ruined, and many even suggested that her family should sue the network. Shipp and talk show host Wendy Williams, who co-produced the movie, were criticized by several fans.
Lifetime will soon air the Whitney Houston biopic, and fans and many others cannot wait to see how it turns out. We can only hope that it does not receive as much criticism and is much more successful than the Aaliyah biopic
