The Amy Winehouse biopic, Back to Black, has landed at Focus Features. It had previously been reported that a biopic about the late singer was in the works from Studiocanal with Marisa Abela (Industry) eyed to play Winehouse. Deadline now reports that Abela has been officially cast in the role with Focus Features and Monumental Pictures teaming up with Studiocanal to take on the project. A first look image of Abela in the role has also been released, which you can see above.
Sam Taylor-Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey) is directing the feature film using a screenplay by Matt Greenhalgh, who also penned the director’s previous movie Nowhere Boy. Abela was up for the coveted role along with many other hopefuls, but word is that her first audition immediately blew away Taylor-Johnson and studio executives. It’s reported that Focus swung in “aggressively” to land the rights to Back to Black once Abela officially signed on.
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“In Sam Taylor-Johnson’s exquisitely moving portrait of an artist, the genius, the heart, the energy and the woman behind the icon we all know as Amy Winehouse promise to shine through as she deserves,” Kiska Higgs, President of Production & Acquisitions at Focus Features, said in a statement. “We can’t wait to travel through Amy’s world and hear her voice through the wonderful Marisa Abela, and are looking forward to reuniting with Sam and our friends at Monumental and Studiocanal.”
Back to Black is being developed with the full support and participation of the Amy Winehouse Estate. This means that the filmmakers will have access to many of Winehouse’s most popular hits to use for the movie along with the support of Universal Music Group and Sonpy Music Publishing.
“We are thrilled that Studiocanal, Focus Features and Monumental are making this movie celebrating our daughter Amy’s extraordinary music legacy and showcasing her talent in the way that it deserves,” the Amy Winehouse Estate said in a statement.
Sam-Taylor Johnson Is Excited to Get Started
“My connection to Amy began when I left college and was hanging out in the creatively diverse London borough of Camden,” Taylor-Johnson noted in her own statement, speaking as to what really attracted her to the biopic. “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 wrote her searingly honest songs whilst living in Camden. Like with me, it became part of her DNA. 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."
She added, “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 film will be produced by Alison Owen and Debra Hayward of Monumental Pictures while Nicky Kentish-Barnes executive produces alongside Ron Halpern and Joe Naftalin.
“Amy Winehouse is the greatest musical talent of the 21st century so far,” Owen also says of what the filmmakers’ goal is for the biopic. “But like so many female icons, the tragedy of her death has seemed to obscure the triumph of her talent…the fun of the noughties, the craziness of Camden, her youth and brilliance – we want to reclaim that for her, with this film.”
Back to Black will officially start filming on Monday, Jan. 16. A release date hasn’t yet been set.
