Focus Features and Monumental Pictures announced on January 13, 2023 that they will partner on Back to Black, the highly anticipated feature film about the late Amy Winehouse’s vibrant years living in London in the early aughts and her intense journey to fame, which begins filming in London on January 16th. Acclaimed filmmaker and visual artist Sam Taylor-Johnson will direct and executive produce the film, with break-out star Marisa Abela landing the coveted lead role. Focus will distribute the film in the United States, with Universal Pictures International handling international distribution, excluding the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Aus/NZ, Benelux, Scandinavia, and Poland which will be handled by STUDIOCANAL.
Marisa Abela stars as Amy Winehouse in director Sam Taylor-Johnson’s upcoming Back to Black, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features
The deal was closed by Anne Cherel, Aska Yamaguchi, and Sophie Leuthreau for STUDIOCANAL and Howard Meyers and Marin Babb for Focus Features. Back to Black was written by Matt Greenhalgh, reuniting the scribe with Taylor-Johnson following their collaboration on Nowhere Boy in 2009. Featuring many of Amy’s hit songs, Back to Black has the full support of Universal Music Group, Sony Music Publishing, and The Amy Winehouse Estate.
Back to Black will focus on Winehouse’s extraordinary genius, creativity, and honesty that infused everything she did. A journey that took her from the craziness and colour of 1990’s Camden High Street to global adoration – and back again, Back to Black 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.
Marisa Abela will star in director Sam Taylor-Johnson’s “Back to Black,” a Focus Features release. Credit: Jem Mitchell
Director Sam Taylor-Johnson comments: “My connection to Amy began when I left college and was hanging out in the creatively diverse London borough of Camden. I got a job at the legendary KOKO CLUB, and I can still breathe every market stall, vintage shop, and street…. A few years later Amy wrote her searingly honest songs whilst living in Camden. Like with me, it became part of her DNA. I first saw her perform at a talent show at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho and it was immediately obvious she wasn’t just “talent” … she was genius. As a filmmaker you can’t really ask for more. I feel excited and humbled to have this opportunity to realize Amy’s beautifully unique and tragic story to cinema accompanied by the most important part of her legacy – her music. I am fully aware of the responsibility, with my writing collaborator – Matt Greenhalgh – I will create a movie that we will all love and cherish forever. Just like we do Amy.”
“Back to Black” is director Sam Taylor-Johnson’s upcoming biopic about Amy Winehouse, a Focus Features release. Credit: Dave Bjerke/©NBC/Courtesy Everett
The Amy Winehouse Estate added: “We are thrilled that STUDIOCANAL, Focus Features, and Monumental are making this movie celebrating our daughter Amy’s extraordinary music legacy and showcasing her talent in the way that it deserves.”