Back to Black was the name chosen by Amy Winehouse for her iconic 2006 album. As well as the haunting song on that record, it's now being used the title of a biopic movie about Amy's tragically short life in the spotlight.
Amy Winehouse was a once-in-a-lifetime talent and this new biopic aims to celebrate her life rather than focus on her tragic death at 27 in 2011. It's directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, who was behind hit movie Nowhere Boy about the childhood of John Lennon plus Fifty Shades of Grey. The writer is Matt Greenhalgh who was also behind Nowhere Boy.
The movie has been made with the support of the late singer’s estate, and sees British star Marisa Abela try Amy’s iconic beehive hairstyle out for size as she enjoys life in the London’s vibrant borough of Camden during the 1990s and early Noughties. Featuring many of Amy's hit songs, including the record-breaking Rehab, the drama then follows her intense route to global fame after the release of her iconic 2006 album Back to Black. It also includes new track Song For Amy sung by Nick Cave.
Here’s everything you need to know about the exciting 2024 new movie Back to Black…
Back to Black release date
Back to Black first debuts in UK cinemas on April 12, 2024, before it arrives about a month later in US movie theaters on May 10 2024.
Friday 17 May 2024 will see the release of of the compilation album Back To Black: Songs from the Original Motion Picture. The standard 12 song set features three original recordings from Amy’s highly influential debut, Frank, three songs from Amy’s multi award-winning masterpiece Back To Black and includes a new track, Song for Amy, sung by Nick Cave. The film's score was composed and recorded by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.A further 5 songs from artists who were an inspiration to Amy, The Shangri-Las, Billie Holiday, Minnie Riperton, Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan, whose voices all appear at key moments in the film, will also be featured on the album.
Is there a trailer for Back To Black?
Yes Studiocanal has now released a trailer for Back To Black so you can watch Marisa Abela giving a haunting performance as the late British singer alongside Lesley Manville and Jack O'Connell. Take a look below...
Back To Black plot
Back To Black follows the crazy, manic life of Amy Winehouse in 1990s Camden through to her meteoric rise to fame and back again in the Noughties. The filmmakers say: “Back To Black crashes through the looking glass of celebrity to watch this journey from behind the mirror, to see what Amy saw, to feel what she felt.” It won't pull any punches!
Back to Black cast — Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse
Marisa Abela plays the diminutive star with the big voice. For this role Maris went to 'Amy boot camp' which involved guitar lessons, fitness training and two vocal coaches — one to nail down Amy's north London accent and the other to perfect her singing voice.
* Maris Abela is now a worldwide star thanks to the success of HBO and BBC2 series Industry in which she plays hedonistic young banker Yasmin Kara-Hanani. She's also starred in Cobra, Rogue Agent and She is Love. Marisa will also star alongside Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in the upcoming film Barbie.
Who else is starring in Back To Black?
Other cast in Back To Black includes Eddie Marsan (The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe) as Amy's dad Mitch Winehouse while Lesley Manville (Mum) is starring as Amy's mum Cynthia Winehouse, aka Nan Cynthie. Jack O'Connell (SAS Rogue Heroes) plays Amy's on/off boyfriend and husband Blake Fielder-Civil.
Bronson Webb plays Joey, Ansu Kabia is Raye Cosbert, Sam Buchanan is Nick Shymansky and Ryan O'Doherty plays Chris Taylor.
Eddie Marsan joined Christine Lampard on ITV1's Lorraine show to talk about playing Amy Winehouse’s dad, Mitch, in the highly-anticipated ‘Back to Black’ film. Opening up about meetings that he had with Mitch before filming, to better understand him and his character, Eddie revealed: “I got him to give me photographs of his family, of his childhood. To give me a playlist of his favourite music, to work out what his aftershave was. He even recorded ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ for me because I have to sing it in the film.
“There was a really heartbreaking thing, when he recorded ‘Fly Me to the Moon’, at the end of it he said ‘There you go, love you’... I’ve got four teenage children and whenever they leave the house I say, ‘Love you’ and that’s how I talk to my kids… Someone recently described grief as love with nowhere to go and I thought to myself, ‘Oh my god. This is a man, full of love, with nowhere to go’.
"I know that Amy, because of her brilliance, had a profound effect on the whole of society and we have an ownership of her. But, sometimes we forget that she was somebody's daughter and this is a family that's lost their child.”
Discussing Amy's tragic death, Eddie said: “I think the reason it was so painful for the country when she died, is that in order to deal with that pain, they had to find someone to blame because that's how you deal with trauma. You try to make sense of it. But we all know that addiction doesn't work like that. Addiction is arbitrary, and it's cruel and it's easy to blame someone - it's easy to blame her husband Blake, it's easy to blame Mitch, but we all know families where there's loving parents and yet one child suffers with addiction because that's the nature of addiction. Blame never saved anybody's life.”
Keen to reveal the real story about Amy, Eddie said: “In many ways we don't know the story. What we know is the narrative that was perpetuated, but we don't really know the story. If you were to spend the night with Amy's family and friends like I did, you realise that there's a whole different story to come along.
“There’s a great scene in the film where Amy says ‘I am not a Spice Girl’. She had that self autonomy, that self volition and the idea to be independent and yet, when she died, the narrative was ‘She's a victim’. If she would have been a victim, if she would have been controlled that much, she would have been a Spice Girl. She would have been manipulated by the media, and she wasn’t — she was independent and unique.”
All about the real Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse was one of the greatest musical talents of the 21st century and sold more than 30 million records worldwide. Her second album Back to Black propelled her to international stardom, winning five Grammy awards. Her personal life often made more headlines than her songs, especially her turbulent relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil who she married in May 2007.
Amy also famously struggled with drugs and alcohol addiction and died from alcohol poisoning on 24 July 2011, aged 27. Her last recording was with American singer Tony Bennett for his album Duets II.
Behind the scenes and more on Back To Black
Back To Black is made by Studiocanal, Focus Features and Monumental Pictures and started filming in London on January 16 2023. The movie was created, co-written and by directed by Sam Taylor-Green (Nowhere Boy). She co-wrote the script with Matt Greenhalgh, who also co-wrote the Ian Curtis biopic Control.
