In our first look at the biopic, Marisa Abela wears Amy Winehouse’s iconic beehive hairdo and dons some of her signature tattoos. They’ve certainly nailed the look but obviously, it’ll take much more than that to do Winehouse’s legacy justice. This marks the first fictional look at the beloved singer’s life; though previous biopic plans were made, this is the first to follow through. She has been honored on the big screen in other ways though: in 2015, A24 released “Amy,” the moving documentary that tells her life story through her own words. It went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Honoring Winehouse is not a responsibility that director and executive producer Sam Taylor-Johnson (of the “Fifty Shades of Gray” franchise) is taking lightly. In a statement, Taylor-Johson said:
“I first saw her perform at a talent show at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho and it was immediately obvious she wasn’t just ‘talent’… she was genius. As a filmmaker you can’t really ask for more. I feel excited and humbled to have this opportunity to realize Amy’s beautifully unique and tragic story to cinema accompanied by the most important part of her legacy – her music. I am fully aware of the responsibility, with my writing collaborator – Matt Greenhalgh – I will create a movie that we will all love and cherish forever. Just like we do Amy.”
The “Back To Black” script comes from “Nowhere Boy” and “Control” screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh and per Focus Features, will focus on “Amy’s extraordinary genius, creativity and honesty that infused everything she did. A journey that took her from the craziness and colour of 90’s Camden High Street to global adoration – and back again, BACK TO BLACK crashes through the looking glass of celebrity to watch this journey from behind the mirror, to see what Amy saw, to feel what she felt.”