The official trailer for the upcoming Amy Winehouse biopic, Back to Black, dropped on Friday (Feb. 2) and it pulls back the curtain on the movie’s all-star cast while also giving a further glimpse at the chronicle of the “You Know I’m No Good” singer’s rocket rise to fame.
Coming less than a month after a more compact international trailer, the new two-minute preview from Focus Features is cued to one of Winehouse’s most iconic hits, “Rehab,” and it provides a deeper look at star Marisa Abela’s eerily bang-on portrayal of the troubled British R&B icon.
The trailer opens with a teenage Winehouse strumming an acoustic guitar in her childhood bedroom as Industry actress Abela says, “I want people to hear my voice… and just forget their troubles for five minutes.” The camera then flashes to images of Abela-as-Winehouse on stage in the what would become the singer’s signature look: short, vintage cocktail dresses, chunky high heels, a teased-up beehive hairdo and her iconic pin-up girl tattoos.
“Do you know what girl power means to me?” Winehouse asks. “Sarah Vaughan. Lauryn Hill… you need to know this. I ain’t no Spice Girl,” she says, describing the unique retro-contemporary lane Winehouse explored during her tragically short six-year run in the spotlight, during which she blended girl group vocals and sway with a hip-hop-inspired swagger.
The clip features a rush of live performance footage, as well as glimpses of Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan) as proud father Mitch Winehouse and Jack O’Connell (Godless) as troubled husband Blake Fielder-Civil. It tracks Winehouse’s elation at her break-out success in the U.S., her wedding to Fielder-Civil — including her dream of being a mum someday — and the couple’s tumultuous, hot-and-cold relationship.
“I don’t bang out ten hits by lunch,” Abela’s Winehouse says, explaining, “I need to live my songs. So that’s what I’m gonna go and do.” In her brief career, Winehouse would only release two full-length albums, her 2003 debut, Frank, and Grammy-winning 2006 international breakthrough/swan song, Back to Black; Winehouse died in 2011 at 27 of an accidental alcohol overdose after years of substance use struggles.
The Studio Canal film directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (A Million Little Pieces) and written by Matt Greenhalgh (Nowhere Boy) was made with the support of the Winehouse estate, Universal Music Group and Sony Music Publishing and will feature a number of the singer’s most beloved hits. The film is slated to hit theaters on May 17.
Watch the official Back to Black trailer below.
