Amy Winehouse

Fifty Shades of Gray acclaimed director Sam Taylor-Johnson will direct the biopic Back To Black, which focuses on the life of singer Amy Winehouse, who died at the age of 27 in 2011. The project has already received the approval of the singer’s father, Mitch Winehouse.

The screenplay was written by Matt Greenhalgh, and work on the film is progressing rapidly – it’s known that Taylor-Johnson will start looking for an actress for the role of Winehouse in the coming weeks.

The film follows the life and music of Winehouse, who started as an up-and-coming jazz singer from North London and then became a Grammy-winning music superstar and brought hits like Rehab and Back To Black to the public. After a long struggle with alcohol and drugs, his life was finally cut short in 2011.

This isn’t the first attempt to make a biopic about one of the most famous singers of the 2000s. Thus, studio Lotus Entertainment had previously taken over the production. Noomi Rapace was supposed to play the main role, but in the end, the project did not materialize.

The most famous film about Winehouse’s fate is Asif Kapadia’s 2015 Oscar-winning documentary “Amy.” This movie was heavily criticized by Amy’s father. Mitch Winehouse tried to edit the film, but it was not allowed. He eventually complained about being portrayed as a villain and publicly denounced the final cut of the film, stating that the director’s aim was to make him an anti-hero all over again.

Amy Winehouse with her father Mitch

For Sam Taylor-Johnson, this won’t be the first experience of making a biopic. In 2009 he directed the biographical drama Becoming John Lennon about the life of the founder of the legendary band The Beatles. The most famous project in Taylor-Johnson’s filmography is the adaptation of the erotic novel “Fifty Shades of Grey” by EL James. Starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, the movie grossed $569 million at the box office.