Winehouse biopic actress learnt to sing after being cast
THE actress playing Amy Winehouse in a new biopic couldn’t sing when she took the part and needed lessons, the director has revealed.
British actress Marisa Abela, 27, was shown singing Back to Black in the first trailer for the biopic, which is named after the late musician’s 2006 studio album.
Discussing the newly released trailer, director Sam Taylor-johnson told
Empire: “When we first talked about it, my first question to [Marisa] was: ‘Can you sing?’ And she said: ‘I can’t.’
“I was thinking, maybe we’ll use Amy’s voice throughout, and we’ll do it that way.
“She then went off after that audition – irrespective of whether she knew she’d got the part – and started training her voice.”
The 50 Shades Of Grey filmmaker said that by the time the actress undertook a test recording at Abbey Road Studios, it became clear that she could sing throughout the film.
“Now she sings the entire movie, beginning to end,” Taylor-johnson said, adding: “I mean, it’s a huge feat.”
The movie, which depicts Winehouse’s whirlwind years living in London and her journey to fame, also stars Lesley Manville, Eddie Marsan and Jack O’connell.
It has the backing of Winehouse’s estate and will “focus on Amy’s extraordinary genius, creativity and honesty that infused everything she did, journeying from Camden High Street in the 1990s to her global fame and many accolades”, the film’s description states.
In the trailer, Winehouse can be heard saying: “I don’t write songs to be famous, I write songs because I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t.”
She also insists that she “ain’t no Spice Girl”, which Taylor-johnson said was emblematic of her wanting to portray the star as “cutting and harsh and on the nose, with really good comebacks”.
The singer’s life was cut short in 2011 when she died aged 27 of suspected accidental alcohol poisoning.
Back to Black, which will feature many of Winehouse’s hit songs, will be released in UK cinemas on April 12.