Marisa Abela to sing “from beginning to end” in upcoming Amy Winehouse biopic ‘Back to Black’
Director Sam Taylor-Johnson has revealed the forthcoming Amy Winehouse biopic, Back to Black, will feature lead actor Marisa Abela’s voice “from beginning to end”.
Abela, known predominantly for her role in the television series Industry, is set to play the part of the ‘Rehab’ singer. Back to Black will chart the life of Winehouse, going from her early years in London to her rapid rise to fame and the problems that consequently ensued.
Despite the distinctive quality of Winehouse’s vocals, Taylor-Johnson has confirmed that Abela will be performing the singer’s iconic tracks throughout the biopic. Prior to her audition for the role, the actor had no vocal training and openly admitted that she could not sing.
“When we first talked about it, my first question to [Abela] was, ‘Can you sing?’ And she said, ‘I can’t,’” the director explained to Empire. “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.”
Additionally, Taylor-Johnson previously said of the casting: “Discovering a talent like Marisa Abela is akin to finding gold dust. The moment she looked into the lens at her first audition I knew she was the perfect actor to play Amy Winehouse. She put in an enormous amount of work, attention to every detail and she trained daily for hours to be able to sing throughout the entire movie. She doesn’t impersonate Amy, she inhabits her.”
Back to Black is also due to star Jack O’Connell as Blake Fielder-Civil, the ex-husband of Winehouse, Eddie Marsan as her father, Juliet Cowan as her mother, and Lesley Manville as her grandmother. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have signed on to score the project.
Back to Black is set to be released in theatres in the UK on the 12th April, before arriving in the United States in May. Watch the trailer below.
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