The story of Amy Winehouse will be coming to a big screen near you down the road, via a biopic directed by 50 Shades of Grey‘s Sam Taylor-Johnson.
According to Variety, the film is being backed by a European studio called Studiocanal, which has kept the project tightly under wraps. A script is said to have begun circulating as the early casting stages begin, with rumours stating that a newcomer will likely be picked for the lead role.
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Johnson, who also worked on Nowhere Boy, was a close friend of Winehouse’s, so the film is believed to be something of a passion project for her.
It’s been noted that the “Rehab” songstresses’ father, Mitch Winehouse, is in full support of the new venture, even though he was portrayed in a negative light in the Oscar-winning Amy documentary; he also participated in the 2021 BBC documentary Reclaiming Amy, which helped commemorate the decade anniversary of her tragic passing.
Back to Black has been penned by Matt Greenhalgh, who wrote Control – the critically acclaimed biopic about late Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis.
Winehouse was just 27 years old when she died of alcohol poisoning in 2011. Prior to her death, she produced two studio albums – Frank and Back to Black, the second of which brought home six Grammy awards for the U.K. native.
A biopic about the controversial starlet’s life has been in talks for years now, and her estate first signed a deal back in 2018 with Kinky Boots writer Geoff Deane writing the script.
It was previously suggested that A Star is Born actress Lady Gaga would be cast as Winehouse, though her father has denied such claims. “I wouldn’t mind betting it would be an unknown, young, English — London, cockney — actress who looks a bit like Amy,” he told The Sun in 2018.
“What we want is somebody to portray Amy in the way that she was…the funny, brilliant, charming and horrible person that she was. There’s no point really me making the film because I’m her dad. But to get the right people to do it, that’s very important, and we will.”
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RIP Amy Winehouse.
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