The Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black has shared the first look at actress Marisa Abela’s portrayal of the UK singer. Filming on the project is set to begin on January 16th in London.
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (Nowhere Boy) with a script by Matt Greenhalgh, Back to Black traces “Winehouse’s vibrant years living in London in the early aughts and her intense journey to fame.” The film has the full support of Winehouse’s father, Mitch Winehouse, and will feature songs from her catalog.
“My connection to Amy began when I left college and was hanging out in the creatively diverse London borough of Camden. I got a job at the legendary KOKO CLUB, and I can still breathe every market stall, vintage shop and street,” said Johnson in a statement. “A few years later Amy wrote her searingly honest songs whilst living in Camden. Like with me, it became part of her DNA.”
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“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 realise 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.”
Abela is best known for her roles in television series Industry and COBRA.
Mitch Winehouse had been adamant about casting a relatively unknown actress to play his daughter. “I wouldn’t mind betting it would be an unknown, young, English — London, cockney — actress who looks a bit like Amy,” he said back in 2018, adding, “What we want is somebody to portray Amy in the way that she was…the funny, brilliant, charming and horrible person that she was.”
Back to Black will be distributed in the US by Focus Features.