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First trailer for Amy Winehouse biopic released

English actress Marisa Abela will play the late music star
English actress Marisa Abela will play the late music star

Amy Winehouse declares she "ain't no Spice Girl" in the first trailer for biopic Back To Black, which will explore the life of the late star.

The Rehab singer is played by Industry star Marisa Abela. The film is directed by 50 Shades Of Grey filmmaker Sam Taylor-Johnson.

The movie, about Winehouse’s whirlwind years living in London and her journey to fame, also stars Lesley Manville, Eddie Marsan and Jack O’Connell.

It has the backing of Winehouse’s estate and will "focus on Amy’s extraordinary genius, creativity and honesty that infused everything she did, journeying from Camden High Street in the 1990s to her global fame and many accolades," according to the official description.

The film "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," the synopsis adds.

In the trailer, Winehouse can be heard saying: "I don’t write songs to be famous, I write songs because I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t."

It also shows her on stage at an early gig, getting one of her famous tattoos, and her mother Janis, played by Manville, crafting her signature beehive hairstyle.

The film also shows her laying eyes on her husband Blake Fielder-Civil, played by O’Connell, and her being chased down the street by paparazzi.

The trailer includes a recreation of the famous moment she won the record of the year Grammy for Rehab, looking dumbstruck as she accepted the award on stage in London.

The film, which is supported by Universal Music Group and Sony Music Publishing, will feature many of Winehouse's hit songs.

The biopic has the support of Winehouse's estate

Winehouse's 2006 album Back To Black made her a global superstar and won five Grammys, including record of the year and song of the year for Rehab.

Winehouse’s career was cut short in 2011 when she died aged 27. She was found unresponsive on her bedroom floor in her home in Camden and died shortly afterwards.

After two inquests, her cause of death was revealed to be accidental by way of alcohol poisoning. Winehouse struggled with addiction, frequently turning to heroin, cocaine and other class A substances.

Taylor-Johnson previously made the 2009 film Nowhere Boy, about a young John Lennon. Nowhere Boy was written by Matt Greenhalgh, who has reunited with Taylor-Johnson for Back To Black.

Back To Black will be released in cinemas on 12 April.

Source: Press Association

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