From the moment we first heard that smokey voice and bluesy style, the world was hooked on Amy Winehouse. 12 years after the English singer-songwriter’s untimely death, we’re finally getting the biographical movie about her life we’ve been waiting for: Back to Black.
What’s the plot?
Back to Black is a biopic told from Winehouse’s point of view. It follows her journey as a struggling jazz club singer whose career flourishes while her personal life withers. The coveted role went to Marisa Abela, who got her start on British television in 2020 and only has a handful of movie credits under her belt, although one of them is Barbie (she played “Teen Talk Barbie”). Abela is best known for her work on the Max television series Industry.
Winehouse’s story could not be told without the inclusion of her villainous ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O’Connell of Skins fame). It was their tumultuous relationship, complicated by struggles with substance abuse and addiction, that opened creative floodgates for the singer-songwriter and inspired one of the greatest albums of all time, 2006’s Back to Black. This was the album that catapulted Winehouse to the next level of fame, earning her five Grammy Awards including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Back to Black sold over 30 million copies around the world. To this day, it’s streamed more than 80 million times every month.
Who made the Back to Black biopic?
Sam Taylor-Johnson directed the film, teaming up with screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh for the second time. (They previously worked together on Nowhere Boy.) Eddie Marsan will star as the singer’s father Mitch Winehouse; Juliet Cowan plays mother Janis Winehouse-Collins; and Lesley Manville is grandmother Cynthia Winehouse. StudioCanal will distribute the movie in the U.K., and Focus Features will do likewise in the U.S.
This isn’t the first attempt to dramatize Winehouse’s life. There have been multiple documentaries about her meteoric rise and tragic fall, and multiple filmmakers pitched biopics that never got made. Winehouse’s estate accepted a deal for this movie back in 2018, and StudioCanal finally got around to making it in 2022. The film took just four months to shoot in London in 2023.
The film will feature Winehouse’s music
Since the Winehouse Estate is on board with this production, filmmakers were able to secure full support from Universal Music Group and Sony Music Publishing. That means that classic songs like “Rehab,” “You Know I’m No Good,” “Back to Black,” “Tears Dry on Their Own,” and “Love Is a Losing Game” will likely be featured on the soundtrack.
Finally, the trailer!
Producers StudioCanal and Monumental Pictures released the full trailer for Back to Black on Friday, February 2, 2023. In it, Abela truly channels Winehouse, both in looks and in the familiar working class accent she uses. Seeing her running from the paparazzi brings us right back to the days when her photo was frequently splashed across tabloids and gossip sites in the early 2000s. It will be fun to get a glimpse at the person Winehouse truly was, rather than her public image, which felt so exploited at the time.
Back to Black heads to theaters in the U.K. on April 12, 2024 and in the U.S. on May 17, 2024. Until then, we’ll be spinning the classic Winehouse album on repeat.
(featured image: Focus Features)
