Zendaya Exits Aaliyah Lifetime Biopic - Actress Opens Up About Departure At BET Awards, Film Wasn't 'All The Way There'

"If at first you don't succeed, dust yourself off and try again."

Looks like Lifetime will have to try again in finding someone to play Aaliyah in their upcoming biopic about the singer after actress Zendaya Coleman has stepped down from the project.

The Disney Channel star opened up about her decision to drop out of the film at the BET Awards Sunday night.

"Because it's someone that I honor and I respect so much, it has to be 128 percent, especially for all her fans, including myself," the actress revealed. "I didn't feel like it was all the way there, so I didn't want to do that. And when the time comes when it's done right and it's 100 percent, by all the means, I will be the first person there ready to go."

The network announced the casting decision to put Coleman in the lead role and it sparked outrage online both from fans as well as Aaliyah's family. Many took to Twitter to express their anger over the casting, suggesting that someone else should have been offered the lead role.

Read some of the Twitter comments here.

Lifetime tweeted about the controversy on Sunday night saying, "We are sad Zendaya will no longer portray Aaliyah. Production is currently on hold."

The 17-year-old actress/singer revealed in a previous interview with the Associate Press that she was excited to take on the role of her idol, but it looks like the negative backlash might have deterred the teenage star.

"Of course it was hard," Zendaya says of pulling out of the upcoming film project. "But again, I just think she deserves the world. She deserves something really, really incredible and so I would rather wait for that."

Production on the biopic, which was supposed to be filmed this summer, is reportedly on hold for right now.

Are you happy about this decision, Mstars readers? Who would you like to see play Aaliyah? Let us know in the comments below.