Addiction is arbitrary. It's cruel, it's random, and it's chaotic...
| Published date | 12 April 2024 |
| Publication title | Huddersfield Daily Examiner |
But she was also a controversial figure. Her devil-may-care attitude, volatile relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, and alcohol and substance abuse made her a target for tabloid newspapers which printed endless unflattering paparazzi pictures of her and documented all the ins-and-outs of her life.
Now, some 13 years after her tragic death from alcohol poisoning, her story is being dramatised on the big screen in Back to Black, a biopic told from Amy's perspective.
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, who was also at the helm for John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy and Fifty Shades of Grey, the film charts Amy's meteoric rise to fame and confronts the realities of her relationships, mental illness and addiction. Marisa Abela, known for starring in BBC finance drama Industry, portrays Amy from her teenage dreams at her grandmother's kitchen table to her final days, including recreating some of her most memorable performances and TV appearances.
"You really have to take stock when you get a phone call like that..." says Marisa, 27, of taking on the role.
"'Is this something I could do? Is this a person that I understand?' If the answer to that question is yes, it's just about really throwing yourself in and trying to get as close to the essence of a person as you can."
To try and truly understand Amy, Marisa moved to Camden, the star's north London home, where a statue stands in her honour.
Marisa had around four months from landing the role to beginning filming, and wanted to immerse herself in Amy's life.
"I decided to move to Camden - honestly, mostly because I have flatmates (and) I'm probably going to irritate the hell out of them," she laughs.
"My days were a lot of physical training and vocal training and singing and movement and guitar, and then leaving space in between to just watch and learn, and try and soak in as much as I could of who she was as a person, what she liked and what she didn't like.
"The essence of a person, that intangible thing, I think is the important thing that changes something from being an impersonation to an embodiment."
Director Sam
With the movie being told from Amy's perspective, it was important...
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