Amy Winehouse Biopic Has Found Its Lead?

An actress is in serious talks to take on the role of Amy Winehouse, and if confirmed, we could be seeing this biopic released at the end of 2023.

By James Brizuela | Published

amy winehouse

It had been announced that the newest musician to be getting the biopic treatment is Amy Winehouse. The film, titled Back to Back, is going to be directed by Sam-Taylor Johnson, who famously directed the first 50 Shades of Grey film. Though the biopic had only been announced, there had been no one attached to play the role of Winehouse. Now, it appears as if there is a frontrunner set to portray the highly successful and much-maligned singer. Reports have stated that Marisa Abela is set to take on the role of the controversial and groundbreaking singer.

The initial plan was to find a more unknown actress to take on the role of Amy Winehouse. Marisa Abela is not completely unknown, as the actress has been a star of the HBO and BBC series, Industry. She will be reprising her role as Yasmin Kara-Hanani in the upcoming season two of the show, which will air this month. She has also appeared in the series, COBRA. Her film resume is quite extensive too, as she has roles in Rogue Agent, and She Is Love. She has also been cast in the highly anticipated Barbie film, though her role is being kept a secret currently. We are not sure if she is going to be portraying a different version of Barbie.

One of the main reasons why Marisa Abela is a frontrunner to portray Amy Winehouse is that she is of Jewish heritage. The producers for the biopic wanted to be as accurate as possible when portraying the singer, who was also Jewish. It would be kind of a miracle to find anyone that could somewhat sound like Winehouse, but Abela is also a singer who reportedly has a “low vocal register” that matches up well with the range that Winehouse possessed. We might be seeing a case of Abela being able to use her own vocal prowess to mimic Winehouse. That would be amazing to hear, especially if she sounds anything in the realm of the jazz and blues genre-blending singer.

Although Amy Winehouse is a bit more contemporary in terms of those musicians who have received biopics, she has been as successful. Winehouse died in 2011, but her two albums and live performances have been spoken about for years. It just goes to show how influential her vocal tone and music were for her to be getting the biopic treatment already. She will join figures like Queen and Freddie Mercury, Elton John, and Elvis as musicians that truly changed the world and got their life stories told on the big screen.

We have not yet received confirmation that Marisa Abela is going to be portraying Amy Winehouse, but the talks were said to be deep, meaning she could be given the role quite soon. We would expect the decision to be made sometime in the next few weeks. If production begins soon, we could be seeing this biopic in theaters in the holiday season in 2023. Winehouse may have been troubled by addiction her whole life, but she is still one of the biggest and most influential singers that have come out in the past 20 years.