Then there’s the matter of embodying Winehouse’s iconic presence and character on display screen – definitely a near-impossible feat. Abela’s resemblance to Winehouse has been questioned, with Winehouse’s father Mitch feeling the necessity to defend the casting choice: “Marisa is a good selection for the function, even when she would not look precisely like Amy.” Moreover, the choice to forged a ‘newcomer’ in such an vital function appears complicated.
On condition that Sam Taylor-Johnson is taking up as director, there may be hope that Again to Black can emerge as an genuine portrayal. The filmmaker proved her biopic credentials with Nowhere Boy, about John Lennon, which obtained typically heat opinions and 4 Bafta nominations. In line with a report in Rolling Stone, Taylor-Johnson was additionally reportedly pals with Winehouse. “My reference to Amy began once I was leaving college and hanging out within the creatively various London borough of Camden,” Taylor-Johnson stated in an announcement final 12 months. “I first noticed her carry out at a expertise present at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Membership in Soho, and it was instantly clear that she wasn’t simply ‘expertise’… she was good.”
Winehouse’s father, Mitch, can be concerned within the movie, elevating issues that he’ll by some means try to rewrite his daughter’s story. The founding father of the Amy Winehouse Basis has been an outspoken opponent of Kapadia’s documentary on account of its unflattering portrayal. He has additionally been criticized for his involvement in an Amy Winehouse hologram tour – which has now been rejected on account of “distinctive challenges and sensitivities” – and a Winehouse Broadway musical at present within the works.
With Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla Presley biopic hitting theaters and the lives of pop stars like Britney Spears coming below renewed scrutiny, it is clear that tales about feminine celebrities experiencing abuse or hardship are standard – however what does that imply for Amy Winehouse? “Currently it began to really feel like [Winehouse] was in the end remembered not as a purely tragic determine, however as a generational expertise who launched two cherished information – and somebody who was not purely self-destructive, however a sufferer of systemic abuse and psychological sickness,” writes Shaad D’Souza in The Guardian: ‘Again to Black threatens to not honor that legacy, however to revive all of the demeaning noise that obscured it within the first place.”
Again to Black is launched on April 12 within the UK and Might 10 within the US.
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