Amy Winehouse fans have been left disgusted and aghast by a clip from a new biopic of her life as they claim the singing scenes are ‘offensive’ and some fans have even asked for criminal charges to be brought against the film’s makers.
The controversial film, titled Back To Black will hit UK cinemas in April and stars actress Marisa Abela as the late singer-songwriter.
The film is expected to chronicle Amy’s rise to pop stardom as well as her tumultuous marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil (played by Jack O’Connell).
In a new clip released by the makers of the film, Abela is seen singing as Amy and performing at London’s Ronnie Scott Jazz Bar – however die hard Winehouse fans were less than impressed by the performance.
Indeed, Abela recently revealed she got the part before ‘anyone even knew if she could sing or not’.
During an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show, set to air Saturday night, Marisa, 27, made the astonishing confession when speaking about her auditioning process.
Marisa admitted she had to take hours of singing lessons to get the part perfect as she transforms into the late singer.
Speaking alongside the director of the biopic Sam Taylor-Johnson, she says: ‘I don’t think anyone even asked me in the audition process if I could sing!
‘I knew Sam and I felt the same way that whoever was going to play this part needed to be Amy from the inside out.’
She adds: ‘For me when I got the job I wanted to learn to sing as much as I could because this was her chosen medium – this is her artform, this is how she expressed herself.
‘It felt so odd to do all of this work and then come to open my mouth to sing and cut to a studio recording. I trained really hard, I trained for two hours a day for four months.’
Taking to social media in the wake of the clip’s release. flabbergasted fans found themselves apologising to Winehouse for the assumed sacrilege.
Reacting to the trailer, one terrified fan said: ‘That teaser has got me real scared for this Amy Winehouse biopic.’
Another wept: ‘Amy Winehouse baby I am SO sorry.’
Others were directly critical of Abela, stating she did not look or sound like Amy.
One said: ‘Wait, this is supposed to be Amy Winehouse?’
Another agreed, writing: ‘Oh lol I kept seeing that movie clip and not paying attention. I didn’t realise that was supposed to be Amy Winehouse.’
One more person screamed: ‘SHE PUT HER SOUL INTO THIS SONG. Amy Winehouse you deserved better!!!’
The film is due to cover Amy’s relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil during the late noughties.
Blake, who was wed to the singer between 2007 and 2009, previously admitted introducing her to heroin and is seen by many of her fans as partly responsible for her death from alcohol poisoning aged just 27 in 2011.
In the trailer, Amy declares she wants to be known for more than her singing and her desperation to be a mother, before sadly dying childless.
In one emotional scene she describes Blake as ‘her life and soul’ before their on/off relationship inspires her to write the iconic track Back To Black.
Last year Blake said he’d have done ‘almost everything differently’ in their relationship as he marked what would have been Amy’s 40th birthday.
Blake, who rarely gives interviews, was asked by Good Morning Britain hosts Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard what he would have done differently. He replied: ‘Almost everything’.
He continued: ‘Its sad but I wanted to say happy birthday to Amy. It’s devastating she’s not here. I think about her all the time, I thought about her this morning when I said my happy birthday to her, she was my best friend.
‘If it wasn’t for certain factors I think it could have been a different outcome. Everything happened very quickly for Amy. We were young.’
It comes after Amy’s father Mitch Winehouse, who is played by Eddie Marsan in the movie, caused shockwaves when it was revealed he is endorsing the film, which has come under fire for ‘ghoulish’ depictions of the star’s drug addiction and also filming her funeral.
The biopic of the star has drawn outrage from pals, with musician Neon Hitch, branding the film ‘ridiculous’ and ‘tasteless’, saying: ‘I feel very strange. Can you please all let Amy rest?’
Friends voiced their fury with her father, after he allowed ghoulish scenes of Amy’s drugs overdose to be filmed at her old flat. Last February, Marisa was seen with an oxygen mask as she left the property in north London.
The flat is now owned by Mitch, who also features in the scene, as Eddie was seen filming alongside Marisa and other actors playing paramedics.
At the time, Amy’s friends were devastated that her father had given his permission for the flat in Camden to be used to recreate one of his daughter’s darkest moments, which took place in August 2008.
It followed a 36-hour marathon drug-taking session, which ended with her checking in to the £10k-a-week Causeway Retreat rehabilitation centre on Osea Island, Essex.
One told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The fact that Amy’s father has said OK to a scene where she had an overdose in the flat she lived in is disgusting. It was such a personal thing and it’s so upsetting and not needed…
‘It’s like the film is reliving all the darkest moments in her life, when there were so many more amazing moments. All we’re seeing is the depressing stuff, but that’s not who she was. Mitch should be ashamed.
‘His behaviour is shocking. He didn’t know what went on or what she was like with us all during those years. Amy would really hate that they’re focusing on all the dark stuff that she went through.’
Amy lived at the flat until 2010, when she bought a four-storey house nearby, where she was found dead the following year, aged 27.
It was later confirmed she died of alcohol poisoning.
The biopic has been teased for several years after Amy’s estate signed a deal to make a biopic about her life and career in 2018.
However, the film has attracted significant controversy prior to its release with many accusing the project of ‘exploiting the singer’s legacy’ and ‘capitalising off her trauma’.
Fans have taken to social media to protest the movie and have said they will boycott it because they believe that people should ‘let her rest’.
Amy’s grief-stricken friends have also spoken out against the biopic, believing it is early for such a film to be made and fuming that the makers of the film failed to consult them about Amy’s life.
They claim that executives working on Back To Black have not been in touch to ask about their memories of the late singer, raising fears that the film will be inaccurate.
One told The Mail on Sunday that they are also unhappy at the casting of Marisa because, despite the near perfect wig she wears and the identical tattoos, they do not think she looks like the Rehab singer.
They also contrast the Roedean-educated actress’s social background with London-born Amy, who was known for her streetwise persona.
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
