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Lead actress Zendaya Coleman has officially departed from Lifetime's planned biopic of Aaliyah.

The Disney Channel star, 17, was set to portray the late R&B star - who died at the age of 22 in 2001 - in a feature film.

But now Lifetime has announced that the project has been put on hold following her departure - and Zendaya has been telling reporters at the BET Awards why she decided to quit the film.

"I felt things in the project, production wise, just weren't all the way there," she explained.

"And I feel that becuase it's someone that I honour and respect so much, it has to be 120 per cent - especially for her, for all her fans, including myself.

"It has to be there and I don't want to do anything less than that."

However she didn't rule out playing Aaliyah at a later date.

"When the time comes, when it's all right... by all means I will be the first person there," she pledged.

TMZ reports that: "Sources close to the production say a whole bunch of factors played a part including the negative reaction from Aaliyah's family."