Well, it’s official: “Industry” star Marisa Abela performs Amy Winehouse in Sam Taylor-Johnson‘s upcoming biopic “Back To Black.” The long-gestating project finally enters production on January 16 in London. The film traces Winehouse’s rise to fame in London within the early ’00s, when she and Taylor-Johnson first met and have become pals in Camden’s High Street scene.
Taylor-Johnson has had the undertaking in thoughts for some time, however Abela emerged because the frontrunner for the Winehouse function solely final summer time. It’s Abela’s first headlining function in her movie profession. Outside of “Industry,” a collection that’s a sensation unto itself, Abela’s current work contains “She Is Love” and a small function in Greta Gerwig‘s upcoming “Barbie,” out this summer time.
Taylor-Johnson directs “Back To Black” from a script by Matt Greenhalgh. The pair additionally collaborated on 2009s “Nowhere Boy.” Greenhalgh’s different work contains one other British music biopic, “Control,” about Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis. “Back To Black” is a big enterprise for Taylor-Johnson, with full assist from Universal Music Group, Sony Music Publishing, and The Amy Winehouse Estate. Taylor-Johnson additionally serves as co-executive producer on the movie with Anne Cherel, Aska Yamaguchi, and Sophie Leuthreau for Studiocanal, and Howard Meyers and Marin Bobb for Focus Features. Focus additionally handles the movie’s US distribution.
“Back To Black” isn’t simply one other movie undertaking for Taylor-Johnson, however a love letter to an previous pal. “My connection to Amy began when I left college and was hanging out in the creatively diverse London borough of Camden,” Taylor-Johnson mentioned in a press assertion. “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. 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.”
Before her passing away in 2011, Amy Winehouse rapidly turned some of the widespread recording artists in current historical past. Her 2006 album “Back To Black” cemented her stardom, successful a (then) record-breaking 5 Grammy Awards, together with Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year for “Rehab.” She went on to promote over 30 million information worldwide, and generated over 80 million streams per thirty days. Producer Alison Owen appears ahead to potraying Winehouse’s legacy onscreen. “Amy Winehouse is the greatest musical talent of the 21st century so far,” mentioned Owen. “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.”
With manufacturing on “Back To Black” underway beginning subsequent week, the movie could also be prepared for awards season subsequent 12 months. But a 2024 theatrical launch is extra probably. Check out a first-look picture of Marisa Abela as Winehouse under.
