Alexandra Shipp is the new stralet tapped to play the role of Aaliyah in the upcoming biopic for the late R&B princess.
The news comes weeks after Zendaya dropped out of the biopic following protest from fans on Twitter and strong objection from Aaliyah’s family.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Shipp, who starred on Nickelodeon’s “House of Anubis”, has already signed on to the production to play Aaliyah.
Wendy Williams has also announced on her Facebook page that she will be the executive producer of the lifetime biopic.
“Wendy and Wendy Williams Productions are proud to announce that they are joining Debra Martin Chase as executive producers on the Aaliyah Lifetime movie! Production begins later this month with Alexandra Shipp playing Aaliyah.”
I'm excited to exec produce the Aaliyah @lifetimetv movie w/ @DebraMChase. Prod starts later this month and @AlexShipppp will play Aaliyah.
— Wendy Williams (@WendyWilliams) July 18, 2014
Aaliyah’s family has hired an attorney to halt production of the film and vowed to block the late singer’s music from appearing in the production.
The biopic is titled Aaliyah: Princess of R&B and is based off Christopher Farley’s best-selling biography Aaliyah: More Than a Woman.
Production is expected to get off the ground this month and the film is expected to hit lifetime this fall.
