Amy Winehouse is the latest star to get the Hollywood biopic treatment

Will audiences say ‘no, no, no’ to Sam Taylor-Johnson’s upcoming film?

Words

Charles Bramesco

@intothecrevasse

We’re living in a golden age of musician biopics, at least in the sense that there sure are a lot of them. Whether the likes of Rocketman, Bohemian Rhapsody, or current box-office champion Elvis are actually any good is a separate and ongoing conversation, but the fact of the matter remains that we’re going to get a whole lot more of these things before the wave subsides.

To that effect, we’ll soon get a dramatised treatment of Amy Winehouse’s life and times courtesy of director Sam Taylor-Johnson. An exclusive from Deadline announced that the film titled Back to Black is now seeking a leading actress to portray the famed neo-soul songstress and tragic member of rock’s so-called ’27 Club.’

Sam Taylor-Johnson may be best known for her work on the flogfest that was the Fifty Shades of Grey film adaptation, though it’s more likely that her work in John Lennon portraiture on Nowhere Boy made her the logical pick for this job. It’s easy to forget that her last feature directorial gig was on A Million Little Pieces, James Frey’s controversy-laden quasi-memoir enlivened by trace amounts of fiction — one hopes her take on addiction will show a little more grace and nuance this time around.

Though Winehouse experts are already looking askance at this project as an officially authorized collaboration with the late singer’s estate. Winehouse’s father Mitch was vocally displeased with his depiction in the 2015 documentary Amy, which cast him in a rather unflattering light as another one of the manipulators exploiting Winehouse for her moneymaking potential; a more agreeable portrayal runs the risk of obscuring the truth.

There’s a great movie to be made out of Winehouse’s extraordinary life, though anyone attempting to do so takes on a task fraught with the potential for disaster. Deifying a mortal woman, gawking over her spiraling downfall, and taking a corny approach to the deployment of her beloved songs are just a few of the pitfalls built into a mini-genre that Hollywood has latched onto like a can’t-fail proposition.

Published 12 Jul 2022

Tags: Amy Winehouse Sam Taylor-Johnson

Suggested For You

Amy

By Sophie Monks Kaufman

Asif Kapadia’s intimate portrait of the late soul singer is too set on driving its own narrative agenda.

review

10 lesser-known music docs you should watch

By Eve Watling

Seek out these great musical portraits, featuring David Bowie, Lil Wayne and Leonard Cohen.

Elvis

By Anna Bogutskaya

Baz Luhrmann’s sweaty, opulent take on the King of rock ’n’ roll is not a biopic but a fairy tale.

review LWLies Recommends

Little White Lies Logo

About Little White Lies

Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. Combining cutting-edge design, illustration and journalism, we’ve been described as being “at the vanguard of the independent publishing movement.” Our reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience. We believe in Truth & Movies.

Editorial

Design