Back to Black true story – how accurate is the Amy Winehouse biopic?
Marisa Abela plays the late singer in the new film.
Amy Winehouse has become the latest in a long list of iconic musicians to be given the biopic treatment. Unlike Freddy Mercury, Elvis Presley, Sir Elton John and Whitney Houston, however, Winehouse's story is a rather recent one, and was covered in an award-winning documentary not that long ago.
Sam Taylor-Johnson's Back to Black sees Marisa Abela step into Winehouse's shoes and focuses on the production of her albums – Frank and Back to Black – and her struggles with addiction. The actress also sang for the Back to Black soundtrack.
The cast is rounded out by Eddie Marsan as her father Mitch, Lesley Manville as her grandmother Cynthia and Jack O'Connell as her on-and-off partner Blake Fielder-Civil.
But just how accurate is the film? Read on for everything you need to know.
How accurate is Back to Black?
As with just about any film about a major artist, the film is based on true events but offers an incomplete picture.
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Winehouse's life was previously profiled in the acclaimed – and Oscar-winning – 2015 documentary Amy, which was directed by Asif Kapadia and was met with criticism from Mitch Winehouse, who was unhappy with the way he was portrayed.
Although there is naturally some crossover between the two films, Back to Black has the backing of the Winehouse estate and there are therefore some clear differences in its point of view (although according to star Eddie Marsan, the new film is "not a riposte" to the documentary).
Of course, with different versions of events having been put forward by different people close to Winehouse, it is hard to definitively state which perspective is more accurate, and this is something which seems likely to fuel much discussion in the weeks after release.
That said, most of the major events depicted in the film are true, and indeed several of Winehouse's most iconic live performances – and a famous early interview with Jonathan Ross – are recreated faithfully.
There are also omissions: for example, although Canadian actor Jeff Tunke had reportedly initially been cast to play influential producer Mark Ronson, he does not appear in the final cut of the film – which highlights the fact that this is a relatively streamlined account of her life.
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, director Sam Taylor-Johnson said that the goal of the film was to "really celebrate her as an artist and a musician" and to "tell a story through her eyes and her perspective so that we're then sort of in the creative process with her".
She added: "We know the tragedy, we know what happened, just to have a sense of her not being just a victim of that, because that seems to sort of overshadow a bit who she is. And so just come back to the place of what an incredible musician and songwriter she was."
Meanwhile, star Marisa Abela said: "[I liked] the idea of being able to explore her strength, and tell her story through her own voice. She was a writer, you know, she's a songwriter. So we have this catalogue of her feelings, and why not use them as inspiration to tell a story from her perspective?
"Especially when, as Sam says, she's kind of been the subject of so much talk and the victim of so much harassment. I mean, to sort of give her that power is a really incredible gift, I think."
Back to Back is out now in cinemas in the UK and Ireland.
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