Aaliyah

 

  1. Regina Hall, Scary Movie, 1999.    She passed on Brenda in the raucous horror satire partly based on the Wayans brothers’ all-embracing  1998 script,… Last Summer I Screamed Because Halloween Fell On Friday The 13th.  

  2. Zoe Saldana, Get Over It, 2000.     The singer-actress was first seen forthe role of Maggie in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in high school – Zoe’s second movie.

  3. Lucy Liu, Charlie’s Angels, 2000.  Tele-tycoon Aaron Spelling decided to put Aaron’s angels on the big screen  (to help generate a new series on the small). His first new  trio: MTV discovery Jenny McCarthy, ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and 007’s Hong Kong martial arts superstar. Then, Drew Barrymore showed him how to do it. with the  third  of her numerous (canny) productions. Just look at the 25 girls she shuffled to find the right  angel Alex Munday: Aaliyah (“too young”), Jennifer AnistonAsia Argento, Halle Berry, Lara Flynn Boyle, Helena Bonham Carter, Penélope Cruz, Kristin Davis, odie Foster, Angie Harmon (stuck on Law & Order),  Salma Hayek, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nia Long, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tiffani Thiessen, Uma Thurman, Liv Tyler, , Kate Winslet, Reese Witherspoon, Robin Wright, Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones… And two singers: Lauryn Hill and another  Spice Girl: Victoria Beckham.

  4. Nona Gaye, The Matrix Reloaded, 2003; The Matrix Revolutions, 2003.   Following her air-crash death. Aaliyah’s fans petitioned the film’s creators, the Wachowski siblings (then brothers, now sisters), to keep her scenes. Impossible! She had not shot any. Her replacement was her friend, Marvin Gaye’s daughter, another R&B singer, who’d debuted as the second wife of The Greatest in Ali, 2001.
  5. Meagen Good, You Got Served, 2003.    Originally written  back in the  day for the singer who  – likl Meragen – supremely fitted the name of the character. Beautiful. 

  6. Jordin Sparks, Sparkle, 2011.     This was to be Witney Houston’s comeback… She had won the rights in 1999 and asked Aaliyah to play her daughter – one of three forming a singing group. After Aaliyah’s shock death, all interest in the project – and, indeed, in Houston – faded for a dozen years. “Jo Jo” beat Raven-Symoné to Sparkle. Houston died in 2012, after completing the film and singing Celebrate (with the debuting Sparks) for the end credits.

 

 

 

 Birth year: 1979Death year: 2001Other name: Aaliyah Dana HaughtonCasting Calls:  6