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Sam Taylor Johnson’s hotly anticipated Amy Winehouse biopic, Back to Black, was contested by the late musician’s fans from the day it was announced. For some, it felt too soon following Winehouse’s untimely death in 2011; for others, a musical drama invited the possibility of caricature at best and exploitation at worst.
Fresh in the mind of Winehouse fans was Asif Kapadia’s 2015 documentary, Amy, which shed light on her on-and-off romantic relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, who introduced the young singer to hard drugs, and her father, who has disputed the film’s depiction of him as greedy and uncaring.
Matt Greenhalgh, Back to Black’s screenwriter, said he was less interested in telling the stories already out in the public. Instead, his writing focused on moments of lightness rather than darkness, Greenhalgh tells TIME. The film, with Winehouse played by Marisa Abela, charts her rise to global prominence, as well as the recording of her 2006 album, also called Back to Black, which was largely inspired by her struggles with addiction and her breakup with Fielder-Civil (played by Jack O’Connell).
“There is always a dark cloud to have with Amy’s legacy and we felt that we should also be celebrating, because we had 10 fantastic years of that music. The music still exists and she still lives on,” Greenhalgh says. In the days after Greenhalgh spoke to TIME, Winehouse was awarded a posthumous BRIT Billion Award by the British Phonographic Industry—honoring one billion digital streams.
Back to Black also seeks to show the joy Winehouse felt in London’s live music venues and around her family, especially her father Mitch (Eddie Marsan) and grandmother, Cynthia Levy (Lesley Manville), as well as her love for Fielder-Civil. But despite its depiction of Winehouse surrounded by loved ones, Greenhalgh says the film does not seek to absolve anyone involved in Winehouse’s tragic death from alcohol poisoning at 27. “I do think they still come out with their…
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