Marisa Abela discusses weight loss journey to play Amy Winehouse
Marisa Abela, the actor portraying the dearly missed musician Amy Winehouse in the upcoming biopic Back to Black, has shared insight into her role’s physical and artistic preparation. Sam Taylor-Johnson is directing the film, with filming beginning last week.
Abela, known for her work in Industry, sat down with the Before The Lights podcast and revealed her previous struggles with image. “I went to an all-girls school in Brighton, and it was brutal… this really toxic environment, and it definitely seeped into how I felt about myself,” the star said. “I was anticipating [training for the role] being quite difficult in terms of maybe thinking, ‘This is how I should look when I’m at my skinniest.'”
When it came to getting Winehouse’s musical styles down, the actor engaged in guitar lessons and trained under two vocal coaches. “I almost see my body as a true instrument that I’m training for a job. I need to work at it in the same way that I’m practising guitar,” Abela shared. “If I was practising for the last four weeks and I still couldn’t play a song, I’d be scared.”
She added: “It’s separating my feelings around weight loss, which I think for me, in the long run, will be really positive.”
Taylor-Johnson’s Back To Black will “focus on Amy’s extraordinary genius, creativity and honesty that infused everything she did. A journey that took her from the craziness and colour of 90’s Camden High Street to global adoration – and back again, Back To Black crashes through the looking glass of celebrity to watch this journey from behind the mirror, to see what Amy saw, to feel what she felt.”
Winehouse’s father Mitch responded to initial backlash towards Abela’s casting after pictures of some emotionally distressing scenes were released on Twitter. “Marisa’s a great choice for the role, even if she doesn’t look exactly like Amy,” Mitch told TMZ.
Eddie Marsan plays Mitch in the film, with Skins star Jack O’Connell cast as Winehouse’s ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil. Lesley Manville stars as Winehouse’s maternal grandmother. Winehouse’s friends were reportedly not consulted on the project.
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