A new Amy Winehouse biopic could finally see the light of day, according to Deadline and Variety. The film, called Back to Black, will be directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (known for her work on Nowhere Boy and Fifty Shades of Grey) and written by Matt Greenhalgh. It’ll be produced by Studiocanal, Alison Owen, Debra Hayward, and Tracey Seaward. According to the reports, Back to Black has the support of the Amy Winehouse Estate, including the late singer’s father Mitchell Winehouse.
Amy Winehouse died in July 2011 at the age of 27. Years after her death, Asif Kapadia released the documentary Amy, which was criticized by Mitchell Winehouse but won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film.
In 2015, following the success of Amy, it was reported that Irish filmmaker Kristen Sheridan would write and direct a Winehouse biopic starring Noomi Rapace. The Sheridan project has not moved forward, and, in 2018, it was reported that Alison Owen and Debra Hayward would produce a Winehouse biopic written by Geoff Deane and sanctioned by the Winehouse family. Owen and Hayward remain as producers of the biopic’s new iteration.
The new biopic should not be confused with the documentary Amy Winehouse – Back to Black, a movie about the making of the Back to Black album.