Singer Amy Winehouse will be entitled to her biopic and director Sam Taylor-Johnson may well have found the rare pearl to embody the icon.
If many biopics have been blooming for several years and especially since the success of Bohemian Rhapsodywhich raised more than $910 million worldwide in 2018, the biopic still has a bright future ahead of it. While films on Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley or even Madonna, who explained why she wanted to direct her film herself, are in preparation, a feature film centered on another major music artist is already well underway.
The English director Sam Taylor-Johnson is therefore going to tackle a business that we imagine complicated: telling the tragic fate of the English singer with the golden voice, Amy Winehouse, who died 10 years ago. Before joining the infamous club of 27 (along with Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and other icons who all died at 27), the singer and her hoarse voice have signed interplanetary hits as Rehab, Valerie and especially Back to Blackthe name chosen by Sam Taylor-Johnson for his biopic.
Who to embody this legendary look?
If it is obvious that choosing the right person to embody a personality as famous as Amy Winehouse is not an easy task, the director could well have found a small nugget. Contrary to rumours, it is not Lady Gaga who will interpret the singerdespite an obvious physical resemblance and a similar grain of voice, but possibly British actress Marisa Abela.
star of the series IndustryMarisa Abela is not yet well known to the general public and it is precisely this point which, according to the magazine Variety, would have tipped the scales in his favour. Besides, the 25-year-old actress also joined the cast of the film Barbie by Greta Gerwig alongside Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. If for the moment Marisa Abela has not had the opportunity to push the song on the screen, we hope that her tone of voice will match that of the star she interprets.
Marisa Abela before her transformation
If for the moment we do not know more about the rest of the cast and the direction that the film will take, we already know that Matt Greenhalgh, the screenwriter of Control (biopic on Ian Curtis, singer of Joy Division), will support Sam Taylor-Johnson in writing. Note also thatthey have already collaborated on Nowhere Boyan unfairly forgotten film, and directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, in which Aaron Taylor-Johnson (husband of the director) played John Lennon and Kristin Scott Thomas played the musician’s aunt.
The director and the singer being friends before the disappearance of the latter, we hope that Sam Taylor-Johnson will deliver a faithful and sincere portrait of the singer who left far too soon. For now, no release date has been announced.
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