The upcoming Amy Winehouse biopic doesn't even have a release date yet, but fans are already in an uproar about it.
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (of Fifty Shades of Grey fame), Back to Black is expected to depict the late singer's rise to fame.
If the photos taken of Marisa Abela, who will depict Winehouse, filming a scene in January with Jack O'Connell (playing her ex-husband) are anything to go by, it's also going to attempt to tell the story of her final years.
Winehouse's father Mitch (who wasn't portrayed in the best light in the 2015 Oscar-winning doco that he described as "horrible") recently told TMZ Back to Black has his full support.
That's the surface-level stuff. To truly understand the upset, we've gotta take you deeper.
Why do people care?
Yaz: It's only been 12 years since Amy died. For many fans, it still feels too raw. Hollywood has been trying to make a movie about Amy happen since 2011 — that's how long it's taken to get it off the ground. A few projects were floated over the years, but none managed to get anywhere.
Then in 2015, the documentary Amy was released to critical acclaim. It was a heart-wrenching and real look at Amy's life, career, struggles with substance abuse, bulimia, a lack of privacy, being completely misunderstood and denigrated by the British press, and taken advantage of.
The sentiment after the doco was very much: We understand now, and we say "enough". Enough using this brilliant, vulnerable woman who died at the tender age of 27 for tabloid fodder, entertainment and profit.
Why would we now need a dramatised version of her already very well documented, and exploited, pain?
Rachel: Where does her dad come into it?
Yaz: SO the 2015 documentary gave some people the impression that Mitch exploited his daughter. This is a heavy allegation — for the record, Mitch denounced and attempted to distance himself from the documentary.
But he supports Back to Black. And some people want to know why.
Basically, there are questions and concerns, but no real answers.
Rachel: Speaking of allegations, Taylor-Johnson isn't the most popular director right now. She's been judged for having a much younger husband in Aaron Taylor-Johnson (of Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging fame), with fans even celebrating the rumour that he cheated on her.
Yaz: Yeah, and some people seem to just automatically dislike her because she directed the first Fifty Shades movie.
Rachel: Having her name attached to Back to Black maybe isn't doing it any favours?
Yaz: According to Variety, Taylor-Johnson and Winehouse were close friends.
And Taylor-Johnson did direct Nowhere Boy, the 2009 John Lennon biopic (starring her now-husband), so she's directed the telling of similar stories in the past.
But then there are the *set photos*.
Yaz: I didn't mind Marisa Abela in Industry, that TV show she's probably best known for, in which she plays a rich girl trying to make it in the investment banking world. But I just don't see her playing Amy.
Rachel: Yeah, people seem to be mad at the lack of resemblance — she's been dubbed "Amy from Shein" — referencing the discount clothes brand beloved by budget Gen Zs.
Fans have even argued what we've seen of the shoot so far makes it look like not enough effort is being made to reflect Amy.
Yaz: I mean, we need to talk about the wig. Whoever's been doing Abela's wigs on Back to Black does not understand Amy's look. And that's an absolute red flag, because Amy's hair and makeup were such big parts of her stage presence and essence.
Her aesthetic was also relentlessly mocked in the tabloids. Seeing it so questionably executed on the actress playing her in a movie supposed to tell the story of her life is… not great.
Rachel: It's giving the Google Image results for "Amy Winehouse Halloween costume".
Should you see it?
Yaz: As much as I love Jack O'Connell, I won't be. The trauma porn of it all is too much for me. It was hard enough watching Amy suffer the first time around — let alone watching an actress attempt to portray her suffering without her consent.
For that reason, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who respects Amy, or (real talk) anyone who feels a way about the continued exploitation of vulnerable women even in death.
But I'm pretty deep in it — as someone who isn't much of an Amy fan, are you planning on watching it, Rachel?
Rachel: Look, probably not! I remember Blonde being released to similar condemnation, so I skipped that flick too. I will be adding some more Amy tracks to my playlists, though — just for you x
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