The Back To Black filmmakers explain why Marisa Abela was chosen to play Amy Winehouse

Watch: Marisa Abela talks about her role as Amy Winehouse in Back To Black.

The first question you might ask about Back To Black, the new biopic about Amy Winehouse, is: Who on earth could they cast who could possibly sing like Amy Winehouse, a talent considered the best voice a generation is celebrated?

Who could embody a woman Bob Dylan describes as “the last true individualist there is”? an artist ranked No. 83 on Rolling Stone's 2023 list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time?

The makers of “Back to Black” (which centers on the time in Amy’s life when she was recording her groundbreaking album of the same name) found a semblance of Winehouse magic in its lead, Marisa Abela. What they didn't expect was to find someone who could Strictly speaking They managed to do the singing part – such is the reverence given to Winehouse's singing talent – and so had not planned to have their leading man sing in any part of the film.

Producer Alison Owen tells Yahoo UK that they had originally discussed a big name for the role. “When you make a film at a certain level, there is always talk of fame [names]“You know, established film stars,” says the producer, whose films include Saving Mr Banks, The Other Boleyn Girl and Shaun of the Dead.

“But since we wanted to portray Amy from 17 to 27, we wanted someone who was fairly young and somewhat unknown. [and] We also wanted to document this journey from unknown to global cult star.

“It's much easier and more effective if you start with someone who isn't yet an icon. Otherwise you have to get rid of too much baggage before you start.”

Casting director Nina Gold whittled some candidates down to a small pool, but even then the choice was clear. “I have to say, Marisa was our Amy almost immediately,” says Owen.

“It was just undeniable, as it is sometimes. You looked out at the pool and thought, 'Well, that's her, it's a good day at work, we can all pack up and go home now.'” She simply embodied Amy. She made no impression of her.

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For Abela, the initial expectation that comes with a role like this faded after she took a step back.

“Auditioning is a long process and when you first hear about it you feel like, 'Wow, this is going to be a huge responsibility and a huge task,'” says the Brighton-born actor, who has a small role in hit of 2023. Barbie.

“You take stock and think, 'Okay, let's see…' I really wanted to research Amy as a person and the icon we all know, even before I started auditioning. I think that was really the work that got me on my way [where] I thought, 'Okay, if they make this movie, I really think I could be someone who could do that.'”

But did she know she could do it?

“I did not I knew I could do it. “I was determined to get as close as possible to some kind of essence of her, a feeling for her,” says Abela.

Abela's singing has already drawn some criticism from commentators who are appalled that she doesn't sound exactly like Winehouse – certainly an impossible task – combined with the idea that not using Winehouse's recorded voice exclusively is sacrilegious.

Whatever you think, it's certainly less disruptive to the drama if a film can use “live” in-camera singing instead of facial expressions. Lip syncing can take you out of the movie. Like most musical biopics, there are moments of lip-syncing in Back to Black, and it's never as effective as when watching and hearing the voice coming out of Abela's mouth.

It's fair to say that Abela can lay down a tune. Could she already sing like that?

“It took a lot of practice and training,” she says. “I got the job about four months before filming started and I trained with my singing teacher for about two hours every day.” When I got the job, it wasn't like I was necessarily going to sing. About a month and a half into my lessons, my voice teacher Sam called and said, “You should come and listen.”

Abela's singing lessons were intended to prepare her to imitate Winehouse's songs, allowing her to feel and understand how Winehouse's voice and face could change to enable her to keep up with the star.

“It slowly became clear [through] “The work they did together just changed Marisa’s voice,” Taylor-Johnson says. “And as I got closer and closer, I started to believe that this might be possible; That would be incredible if we could use Marisa’s voice because then the narration in the film makes sense.”

Author Matt Greenhalgh – responsible for the acclaimed music biopic screenplays Control, about the life of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, and Sam Taylor-Johnson's Nowhere Boy, about the young John Lennon – knew that Marisa Abela was clearly different stood out from the other auditionees.

“They had to sing 'Fly Me to the Moon,'” he remembers. “We tried to stay on the pitch because we just said, 'This is mind-blowing stuff.' And then when she started reproducing that on set, it made life so much easier – she just sounds like Amy Winehouse.”

Back to Black opens in UK cinemas on April 12th.

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