“Back to Black: The Amy Winehouse Story” by British director Sam Taylor-Johnson (“John Lennon. The Boy from Nowhere”, “Fifty Shades of Grey”) is currently showing in cinemas. This is a biography inspired by the life of a popular singer who died in 2011 at the age of only 27.
Many Amy Winehouse fans protested the film when the trailer was released. The choice of the actress and the inclusion of the final tragedy on screen were criticized, and the director was accused of making money from the drama of Winehouse, who suffered from alcoholism until her final moments.
We had the opportunity to ask the “Back to Black” director about these allegations, as well as Marissa Abella (the actress who plays Amy) and Eddie Marsan (who plays Mitch Winehouse, the artist's father in the film).
“The opinion of Amy’s fans did not affect us.”
Fans of Amy Winehouse reacted strongly to the information that Sam Taylor-Johnson is preparing an autobiographical drama inspired by the story of the young singer. In an interview with Onet, the director admitted that she tries not to read or listen to hostile comments from people who have not even seen her film.
She says directly: “For me, the most important thing is that I painted a picture that I am proud of.” -I feel like people who really liked Amy and her music will love her. They will see that it was photographed out of respect for the artist.
Sam Taylor-Johnson and Marissa Abella at the premiere of Back to Black: The Amy Winehouse Story
There is a common belief among Amy Winehouse's fans that her father is indirectly responsible for the singer's death. Mitch Winehouse allegedly pressured his daughter to return to the stage, even though she was not ready to do so due to her health. It is his fans who blame the singer for the fiasco at the recent Emmy ceremony in Belgrade.
– The opinion of the fans did not influence the way she played the role of Mitch Winehouse, – explains Eddie Marsan, who played Amy's father in the film, in an interview with Onet. — I don't play villains or victims of violence, I play sad people looking for happiness. I didn't want to create a white or satanic version of Mitch. In my opinion, he is a guy who tries to do his best in adverse circumstances.
Marissa Abella and Eddie Marsan in “Back to Black: The Amy Winehouse Story”
-I think Mitch made mistakes as a father, but who doesn't? – Marsan asks. He adds: – I have a lot on my mind. I wish I had seen the breakfast I made for my kids this morning. nightmare! Mistakes are part of the human experience.
—If you make Mitch or Blake a monster, Amy becomes the victim. And if you consider Amy a victim, you won't be able to tell her story correctly. You are depriving her of her independence. He concludes that you do not understand her point of view.
She played Amy Winehouse. “Humanity is lost in stardom.”
Amy's loyal fans also did not like the actress's choice in the role of the artist. They found that Marissa Abella has no physical resemblance to the deceased star. Abella didn't give up and gave it her all on set. It is her singing that we can hear in the film.
“I had no difficulty empathizing with Amy,” the actress recalls. She was honest, open, and absorbed everything the world had to offer. I never doubted that Amy was brave and strong. At the same time, he realized that she had suffered.
Marissa Abella in “Back to Black: The Amy Winehouse Story”
When you talk about Amy Winehouse, you can see that she devoted a lot of time to trying to understand the motivations of the artist. She does not want to generalize, and stresses that we do not know many aspects of the singer's life.
— In creating Amy, the most important thing for me was consistency and honesty. I wanted to show who she is,” says Marissa Abella. —When someone becomes a star, their humanity is blurred in public perception. We forget what motivated our idol and what he really wanted. What made him sad, what made him happy… When I ask myself these questions, I transform the role I am playing into the real experience of a specific person – Amy Winehouse.
– Abella points out.
“I think acting is an exercise in empathy,” says Eddie Marsan. -It's our mission. [Konstantin] Stanislavsky said that when you play a young man, you have to find his youth. When you play an old man, you find out how old he is. There is a trend on social media where everything seems binary: good or bad, black or white. In acting, you have to be able to combine contradictions. Amy's story teaches us empathy: with addicts, but also with their families who are also suffering.
Marissa Abella in “Back to Black: The Amy Winehouse Story”
“We couldn't meet each other. But we met through the movie.”
All three of them talk about Amy Winehouse as if they knew her personally. However, Taylor-Johnson revealed that, contrary to media reports, she had never met Amy, but had seen her perform live – when the artist was at the beginning of her career.
“She was shy, but I was amazed by the way she conveyed her music to others,” the director recalls. “We lived in Camden [dzielnica Londynu — przyp. red.] At the same time, we had mutual friends, but we never met. I would compare it to walking through a revolving door at the same time: she was leaving, I was coming in and we were going around. We weren't supposed to meet…but we met differently, through my film.
We were lucky to have her in our world. She is still with us, we hear her voice at different moments in life. Eddie Marsan adds that her songs stay with us.
Sam Taylor-Johnson concludes: “Amy Winehouse remained true to herself despite the world’s constant attempts to influence her.”
