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One In A Million
It can't be. I wish I was only dreaming. Saturday afternoon, me and my buddy Phil were discussing The Matrix sequels. He mentioned how he would have liked Michelle Yeoh to play in it. I mentioned Aaliyah and Harold Perrineau Jr. being in the movie. He was a little apprehensive about her. I told him: 'Remember in Romeo Must Die. She was just good. Her performance didn't seem stiff or fake. The camera just loved her.' He agreed and we continued our Matrix conversation. Twenty-four hours later, she's not among us anymore. I am shocked.
I have been a fan of her music for three years now. I didn't really follow the beginning of her career aka 'The R. Kelly Years'. I have only recently heard her first album 1994's Age Ain't Nothing But Number Age. One of my favorite songs from it is "Back and Forth." At only 15, you could see the talent in this girl. Her second album, One In A Million brought her to music stardom. It was the beginning of her collaboration with Hip Hop Producer Timbaland. "If Your Girl Only Knew" from that album is one of my favorite Aaliyah songs. Definitely one of her best, again I only heard it after my discovery of her in 1998.
Straight from the soundtrack of Dr. Dolittle, "Are You That Somebody" became her biggest hit so far. I absolutely love that song. From that tune, I began to like Aaliyah's music. Of course, I started listening to her second album and she got me hooked on her stuff. I was anxiously awaiting new material from the budding diva when I learned that she signed up to make her film debut playing across Jet Li in Romeo Must Die. That project instantly excited me. I was already a huge Jet Li fan, when she signed upon the project it got even better.
Obviously, I caught the movie on it's opening day. I loved the movie. Saw it twice in theaters and I own the video and have seen quite a few more times. She was incredible. Her acting was good for a newcomer. Her chemistry with Jet was amazing. She was funny and sexy. You could tell that she was made for cinema. Her acting didn't seem forced at all. As a bonus, she had new musical material on the film's soundtrack. The first single, "Try Again" went straight to #1. Another collaboration with Timbaland, this time the song was perfect for the 'new millennium' (to quote Tim). The other soundtrack songs were pretty good. One of my favorite is "I Don't Wanna." Great comeback for the lovely singer.
Her career was just beginning. She landed a role in Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned. While on location in Australia, she put the finishing touches on her third album, self titled Aaliyah. Her biggest break yet was about to happen. Hot from Romeo Must Die and Queen of The Damned, the Wachowski Bros. offered her a part in The Matrix sequels. Little is known about the production, but she's playing a human woman called Zee. She's romantically involved with Harold Perrineau Jr.'s character. She was seen with him during the rave party/Morpheus speech on the Zion set. We had a report on it a while back in this column. Her untimely death might have disrupted the shooting of the sequels. I hope the Wachowski Bros. will keep her already shot performance into the finished film if it's possible. Last month, her latest album hit the stores. The first single, "We Need A Resolution" was a top ten hit. A very good track with the collaboration of Timbaland again. I bought the album the day it hit the stores. Good album with a few more solid singles. She knew it and while taking a short break from The Matrix, she headed to the Bahamas to shoot the second video from her album. On her way back to the states, her plane crashed and she unfortunately died.
I hope she will be remembered for her music and her acting. The Detroit-native was extremely talented and it's a darn shame we will have only witnessed a small percentage of her potential. We were born in the same year (1979) and I can't believe her life is going to stop here. I mean, we are still kids at twenty-two. It can't be. I wish my most sincere condolences to the Haughton family.
Stay tuned...
That's all folks...
Jean-François Allaire (aka DeadPool)
Questions, comments, praise etc. Email me at deadpool@tnmc.org
Jean-François Allaire is TNMC's first columnist. At only 24 years old he has become a respected entertainment journalist, with his columns appearing in Corona's Coming Attractions and Scr(i)pt magazine. He also writes a monthly column in Screenwriters Monthly entitled 'The Last Word.' Hailing from Montreal this young writer is determined to dig up all the details on the movies before they hit your local theater. If you're part of a movie production then you really need to be talking to him.
