Movies

Fans vent frustration over Zendaya playing Aaliyah

After years of starts and stops on a rumored “Aaliyah” biopic, Lifetime announced Monday that the fallen star’s life story will air this fall — just not with the girl we imagined, or the one we’ve heard about for months.

The movie, which has the working title “Aaliyah: Princess of R&B,” will place 17-year-old Disney actress Zendaya Coleman in the leading role.

Did you say “who?” too? We’ll get to that later.

Few of us will ever forget that balmy August evening in 2001. News spread that R&B’s “Baby Girl” died in a plane crash after wrapping a video shoot in the Bahamas. Her self-titled album, “Aaliyah,” rode high on the charts and turned out addictive singles like “Rock the Boat” and “More Than a Woman.” Thirteen years have passed, and we’ve yet to see a star compete with her cool resolve and perfectly pitched voice — or come even remotely close to her easy-breezy dance skills.

Though Zendaya nabbed the coveted role, Keshia Chanté (left) auditioned to play Aaliyah (center), while Solange Knowles (right) was rumored to be interested in the project.Splash News (left); WireImage (center); Getty Images (Right)

That is, until Zendaya came along, at least according to Lifetime. The “Shake It Up” actress-turned-singer was 4 years old when Aaliyah died. Aesthetically, it seems, her bone-straight hair is all that is required to override her prominent Irish heritage. It’s not about race, but maybe Lifetime should have taken a clue from the successful TLC biopic that aired on VH1. The popularity of the film had a lot to do with how closelty the actresses — Keke Palmer, Lil Mama and Drew Sidora — resembled Chilli, Left Eye, and T-Boz.

How about Jennifer Lopez’s spot-on portrayal of Mexican singer Selena? If you placed a split screen between the two — though J.Lo is Puerto Rican — you’d be hard pressed to tell them apart. And Yaya DaCosta was just cast as Whitney Houston in an upcoming biopic — a well-suited choice for the talented actress.

“106 and Park” host Keshia Chanté auditioned for the role of Aaliyah, and Solange Knowles was rumored to be interested in playing the late star. Both would have served as gratifying representations.

Fans vented their frustration with the casting of Zendaya on Twitter.

Some have gone as far to start a petition begging the network to re-cast the role.

Zendaya’s career is on the rise, but it takes more than the pair of low-slung baggy jeans, peek-a-boo Tommy Hilfiger underwear and a side-swept bang she rocked for Halloween. Aaliyah was guarded, secretive and elusive.

She spoke about her personal life through her music, like her controversial relationship with R. Kelly on the ever-popular, “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number.” It’s like one of those “you had to bee there to understand” experiences, a concept that would have escaped the pre-school aged “Replay” singer.

When fans sit down to watch this biopic, they want to feel Aaliyah come through the screen. They want to have questions answered, and to view a final performance they thought they would never see. The singer offered up her own explanation for the casting on Twitter: “I’m just a 17-year-old girl who got cast to play one of her biggest inspirations. #positive.”