Image: Courtesy of Focus Features
Following previous reports that Marisa Abela was headlined to play Amy Winehouse in a new biopic, Focus Features has confirmed casting the industry actress and given a first look at Back To Black ahead of the film going into production next week . These include, of course, the British singer’s signature beehive hairstyle, tattoos and Monroe piercing, although it’s difficult to see exactly how much eyeliner is involved.
Back To Black is made in full collaboration with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Publishing and the late artist’s estate, so there’s no Jackie Jomp Jomp situation here. The project will feature a slew of Winehouse hits that have made her one of the definitive voices of the ’00s, presumably with Abela performing them.
Marisa Abela as Amy WinehouseImage: Focus Features
“My connection with Amy began when I left college and hung out in the creatively diverse Camden area of London,” director Sam Taylor-Johnson writes in a press release. “I got a job at the legendary KOKO CLUB and I can still breathe every market stall, vintage shop and street… A few years later Amy was writing her searing honest songs while living in Camden. Like me, it became part of their DNA. I first saw her perform at a talent show at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho and it was immediately clear that she wasn’t just “talent”…she was brilliant. As a filmmaker, you can’t really ask for more. I feel excited and humbled to have this opportunity to bring Amy’s beautiful, unique and tragic story to cinema, accompanied by the most important part of her legacy – her music. I fully understand my responsibility, along with fellow writer Matt Greenhalgh, I will create a film that we will all love and cherish forever. Just like us Amy.”
While Taylor-Johnson is now best known for producing ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’, she is no stranger to musical biographies having previously directed ‘Nowhere Boy’. The 2009 film starred her now-husband Aaron Taylor-Johnson and saw John Lennon through the troubled school years that led to the formation of The Beatles.