Amy Winehouse biopic ‘Back To Black’ confirms release date
The Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black, starring Industry’s Marisa Abela as the late singer, has had its UK release date officially confirmed.
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, the biopic will star Abela alongside Jack O’Connell as Amy’s ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil, Eddie Marsan as her father Mitch, and Lesley Manville as her maternal grandmother.
And now, as confirmed on Abela’s Instagram account, it has been revealed that the film will be released into UK and Ireland cinemas on April 12, 2024.
Taylor-Johnson has previously directed the John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy and the first entry in the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise.
Matt Greenhalgh, who previously collaborated with Taylor-Johnson on Nowhere Boy, has written the script for Back To Black. Alison Owen, Debra Hayward and Nicky Kentish-Barnes serve as producers.
The film, which has the approval of her estate, will feature songs by Winehouse. “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,” a statement read.
Winehouse’s life was the subject of the 2021 BBC documentary Reclaiming Amy, released to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the singer’s death. Her father Mitch appeared in the film, after he was openly critical of 2015 documentary Amy, directed by Asif Kapadia.
In April, Mitch joked that he wanted to be played by George Clooney over Marsan. “I told my friend that Eddie was playing me and he said – excuse my French – ‘Eddie fucking Marsan! He’s not very good-looking.’ I said, ‘I know – I wanted George Clooney!’”
Mitch said he requested script changes to Taylor-Johnson over his portrayal, adding: “I sent the first script back. It made me look like a saint – like I should be knighted. It was too much.”
In September, to mark what would have been Winehouse’s 40th birthday, Fielder-Civil spoke about their relationship, which began in 2005 and lasted, on-off, for six years.
Describing himself as a “20-year-old drug addict” at the time he was in the relationship, he was also asked what he would change if he was allowed the chance to do things over again.
“Almost everything,” he began. “Before me and Amy did that together [taking heroin], I had tried it a few times, so I recognise in myself now – and this is part of being kinder to myself – I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“I wasn’t going into that with an intention of this happening. I don’t think anyone that loved Amy, her family or her friends, would ever think that this is what I would have wanted,” he continued. “Equally I think that they would’ve said Amy wouldn’t have wanted me to have taken the burden for the last 10-plus years.”
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Max Pilley
NME
