Lifetime's stiff treatment of the life of Aaliyah Haughton, Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B, was not exactly so bad it was good, but it was fun to mock. Basically, you had to put in work to find good in the boring, terribly cast, musically inept slog. Aaliyah died in a plane crash at age 22 in 2001; Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B felt longer than her actual, brief life.

Via Entertainment Weekly, it is America's Next Top Model Cycle 3 first-runner-up-turned-actress Yaya DCcosta as Whitney Houston in Angela Bassett's upcoming biopic for Lifetime (set to air in early 2015). The cover of Houston's 1987 sophomore album, Whitney, is the reference point:

VH1 has released the first footage of its upcoming biopic CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story. It is mostly recreations of music videos and it is mostly convincing. Lil Mama seems particularly spot-on as Left Eye. Who knew?

The other 2013 Elizabeth Taylor biopic aired on British TV last night. Burton & Taylor featured Dominic West and Helena Bonham Carter in the title roles, focused on the twice-divorced couple's reunion on Broadway in 1983's revival of Private Lives, and received generally positive, if unenthusiastic, reviews. That's way more than the widely mocked Lindsay Lohan vehicle, Liz & Dick, which aired earlier this year on Lifetime, could claim.

OutKast frontman André 3000 (né Benjamin) has now been officially confirmed to portray Jimi Hendrix in a feature film about the late rocker's life that will either be really, intimidatingly cool or, oh my gosh, so embarrassing and awful.

Forthcoming Linda Lovelace biopic Lovelace has the most strangely star-studded cast since Bobby: In addition to blue-eyed blonde Amanda Seyfried in the title role as the brown-eyed brunette porn star, Demi Moore will portray Gloria Steinem and James Franco is rumored to be closing in on a cameo as Hugh Hefner.

Why does Hollywood do everything in duplicate? After Lindsay Lohan dropped out of Linda Lovelace biopic Inferno, Amanda Seyfried announced she would be playing Lovelace. Shortly thereafter, Malin Akerman announced she would replace LiLo as Lovelace. Why are there so many mixed signals in the casting of this role, I wondered.

Singer Justin Bieber, who is 16, will play himself in a 3D biopic about his life. The man who directed An Inconvenient Truth is in negotiations to direct it. I don't know what else to say. Good luck, earth. [Deadline]

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin is set to make his directorial debut with a biopic of disgraced senator John Edwards, wife-stepper-out-on'er and love child-haver. The film will adapt a former Edwards aide's tell-all book. May we suggest Jack McBrayer for the lead?

Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, why not Weird Al? In a trailer that's almost too good to be true, it examines the rise and fall of Mr. Yankovic. Sex, drugs, and polka, y'all.

Al Pacino finally takes on a role that requires him to try and act for the first time in years, as opposed to him collecting seven-figure paychecks and sleepwalking through his roles. His career won't be euthanized after all.

Here's the poster for the sure-to-be-classic upcoming low-budget Bernie Madoff biopic, dynamically titled "Made Off With America." Yes, they did use the bald eagle/flag clip art, thank you. The auditions are also dynamic!

For his next trick, franchise-despoiling superproducer George Lucas has opted to abandon his long-delayed follow-up to Howard the Duck—having deemed the character not "sacred enough to really warrant a full-on sequel violation"—and instead has turned to the inspirational true story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American combat squadron to fight in World War II:

Jamie Foxx is the poor man's Denzel Washington, so it makes sense that he's set to play Mike Tyson in the boxer's upcoming biopic. Washington's boxer, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter embodied many of the racial tensions of the 1960s. Mike Tyson is just a crazy dude with a thing for pigeons. Good thing Foxx knows how to play crazy. [ShowBiz Spy]