‘It’s a fine line portraying addiction’: The making of the Amy Winehouse biopic

This story is part of the March 31 edition of Sunday Life.See all 15 stories.

It was in a dark jazz club in London’s Soho around 20 years ago that British filmmaker and artist Sam Taylor-Johnson first saw Amy Winehouse perform. At Ronnie Scott’s, a venue steeped in music history, the diminutive singer with a howling ’60s vocal style belted out her tunes, leaving not a dry eye in the room.

“It was fortuitous to be there when Amy was performing,” says Taylor-Johnson, who has directed the new Amy Winehouse film, Back to Black, set for release next month. “It was a ‘young voices’ jazz night, and she stood in front of the stage – not on it, but down with everybody. She didn’t engage with the audience, was super shy and just sang, a tiny girl who gave me the feeling she was going to be huge, and then she was.”

Back to Black tells the backstory of Winehouse, who released just two studio albums in her lifetime – the Grammy-winning debut Frank in 2003 and Back to Black in 2006. It’s the latter album that forms the basis for this new film.

Taylor-Johnson only agreed to commit to the project, initiated by English producer Alison Owen, if she could bring in screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh. The two had worked on her debut film, 2009’s Nowhere Boy, which told the story of a young John Lennon.

But this project is different. “It’s not a biopic, because we focus on Amy’s life leading up to the making of her album Back to Black as a framework of the movie,” she explains. “It was about being guided through Amy’s words, songs and the music.”

Finding the right person to portray the iconic star was never going to be easy, but they landed on British actor Marisa Abela to embody Winehouse, who died in 2011.

“Marisa met me at her audition unadorned in anything Amy, to show she could pull her character from the inside,” explains Taylor-Johnson. “She was super-sweet and polite, and I thought it would be a huge task to take it from what I saw to her becoming Amy.

“But that’s exactly what she did. Marisa looked down the lens and challenged me with a different energy than she came in with. At that moment, I knew she was capable of summoning up what it would take to be Amy Winehouse.”

Back to Black traverses the strong female influences who shaped Winehouse, from the maternal grandmother who was a mighty force in her formative years to the jazz stars such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan she listened to in her bedroom.

It also delves into her relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil (played by Jack O’Connell), whose angsty energy stirs Winehouse’s addictive tendencies. The film touches on her bulimia and issues with alcohol and drugs while taking the utmost care not to glorify the singer’s downfall.

“That was the hardest thing to do as a director, to show that Amy was suffering. We see the pain [addiction] is causing her, but it is in no way sensationalised.”

SAM TAYLOR-JOHNSON

“I’m a mother of four, and I know a lot of young women will be watching this,” says Taylor-Johnson. “It’s a fine line, portraying those addictions and being absolutely hyper aware of not glamorising them. You have to be real with it, but at the same time not indulge.

“That was the hardest thing to do as a director, to show that Amy was suffering. We see the pain [addiction] is causing her, but it is in no way sensationalised. It’s a big part of her struggle and her music, so it has to be there.”

As a child growing up in London, Taylor-Johnson thrived in a family obsessed with Elvis, while her mother shared Winehouse’s love of Tamla Motown. “My grandmother would stand me on the kitchen table at her house in Fulham and I had to sing entire Elvis albums she had taught me,” she says.

It kick-started Taylor-Johnson’s own obsession with music. Then came David Bowie. “I was definitely the girl who was all about lyrics. That Bowie line in Life on Mars about ‘the girl with the mousy hair’ – I was obsessed with it and would place myself in the ‘lonely outsider girl’ category while listening at home on my record player.”

When it came to commissioning a score for Back to Black, Taylor-Johnson wanted Nick Cave and Warren Ellis to compose it. Susie Cave, fashion designer and wife of Nick, is an old friend, so she picked up the phone to ask the question. “I was a bit nervous,” she says. “But then I thought, ‘I should just reach out. What have I got to lose?’

“I had met Nick through Susie and been to every gig possible in London. Him saying yes was my Charlie and the Golden Ticket moment. It feels like Nick has been down this road. He understands Amy and the world in which she existed. It didn’t feel like it was out of his realm of creativity.”

“From a young age I have always been quite strong. I’ve always had a good sense of self, the feeling that if something feels right, I should follow that instinct.”Credit: Jem Mitchell @ Lalaland Artists

Though not essential to the making the film, meeting Winehouse’s parents was also key for Taylor-Johnson. “I was confronted with two deeply grieving, sad parents,” she says of Janis and Mitch Winehouse. “I felt the responsibility that comes with telling this story – I didn’t want to cause Amy’s parents any more pain – but at the same time I was saying, ‘Well, I still have to tell it the way I want to tell it.’

“They both came alive retelling stories of Amy as a kid. It was hard not to feel emotional. Janis talked about Amy’s love of her canary, Ava, and we wove the bird symbolism into the film because of that. Now we have this subtle, delicate moment to honour Amy and her mum.”

Before she started making films, Taylor-Johnson, 57, was an up-and-coming photographer, emerging from the same 1990s scene, known as the Young British Artists, as Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.

Since then, apart from directing feature films she has also made video clips, including for REM – the 2011 single Überlin stars her husband, actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson. She enlisted Aaron again three years ago, filming him dancing topless in the clip for Black Rain by Canadian Mike Milosh, aka Rhye.

She and Aaron first met on the set of Nowhere Boy in 2008 and the rest is wedded bliss, although not without tabloid controversy – at the time of their meeting, he was 18 and she was 42.

“All the decisions I’ve made in my personal life have served me well, and if I’d started listening to opinions and not being impulsive, then half the things that are great [in my life] might not be there,” says Taylor-Johnson, who was previously married for 11 years to art dealer Jay Jopling, with whom she shares two daughters, Angelica, who’s now in her mid-20s, and Jessie, now in her late teens.

“From a young age I have always been quite strong. I’ve always had a good sense of self, the feeling that if something feels right, I should follow that instinct.”

Taylor-Johnson says family keeps her grounded. She also has two daughters – Wylda Rae, 13, and Romy Hero, 12, with Aaron. Her own mother, Geraldine, moved to Far North Queensland when Taylor-Johnson was 19 but regularly returns to London to visit her grandchildren.

“We live in the countryside with 14 animals, including pigs, dogs, cows, rabbits and chickens,” she says, explaining that the family moved back to the UK from Los Angeles a few years ago. “It’s been great. At the end of the day, I still have to go out and feed the pigs if nobody else will!

“Aaron is crazy about rewilding,” she continues. “The animals aren’t there to eat and it’s very wholesome living. When I start to get all in my head about my work, all I need to do is hang with the animals for a reality check. The rabbit hutch is always my job!”

The couple, who both work in the film industry, have a policy of sticking to one project at a time in an attempt to achieve a healthy work/life balance. “It’s a juggle, and sometimes you don’t get the balance right,” she says. “Sometimes you’re in danger of failing at both.

“Luckily, 95 per cent of the time Aaron and I have managed to work one on and one off – when he is filming, I am at home and vice versa. That’s pretty much how we manage it.

“Aaron’s mum and dad did come to London when I was filming Back to Black to help out. That was so good. They brought my 17-year-old on set and she operated a crane for a minute, which was fun. Trying to keep the kids involved is key, but that balance is a struggle. I’m not alone with that, I’m sure.”

Back to Black opens in cinemas April 18.

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