Here's how the cast of 'Back to Black' compares to the real-life people they're playing
- Marisa Abela stars as Amy Winehouse in Sam Taylor-Johnson's new biopic "Back to Black."
- The movie depicts her rise to stardom and toxic relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil.
- Here's how the cast compares to the real-life people they portray.
Amy Winehouse's life and complicated love with Blake Fielder-Civil are at the center of director Sam Taylor-Johnson's new biopic, "Back to Black."
"Back to Black," now playing in theaters, chronicles the late musician's rise to fame, from her roots in North London to her global success and Grammy wins. The film primarily focuses on her toxic relationship with Fielder-Civil, which fueled her triple-platinum sophomore album "Back to Black."
Here's how the cast of "Back to Black" compares to the real-life people they portray.
In order to nail Winehouse's voice and physicality, Abela worked with dialect coach Jamie Matthewman, vocal coach Anne-Marie Speed, movement coach Sarah Green, music producer Giles Martin, and guitar tutor Ben Parker. She also recorded Winehouse's music at Abbey Road studios with the late singer's real band and wore two of the musician's real pieces of clothing in the movie.
In a recent interview with Stephen Colbert, Abela said that playing Winehouse was "daunting," especially because she's not a singer. But once she got the role, she committed to portraying the icon as authentically as she could.
"I went into those singing lessons from a place of real curiosity and a want to do right by her emotionally," Abela said.
Asif Kapadia's 2015 documentary "Amy" portrayed Mitch as exploitative of his famous daughter. He previously slammed the documentary, calling it "horrible," and the Winehouse family denounced it as "misleading" and "unbalanced."
"Back to Black" portrays Mitch in a more forgiving light, as a doting father to Amy.
Taylor-Johnson and Marsan both met with Mitch, and the actor described him to The Telegraph as "much more self-aware and candid than he's perceived." Marsan said that he spoke with Mitch multiple times and he admitted that he "made mistakes" regarding how he handled his daughter's fame.
O'Connell is perhaps best known for playing Cook on the UK drama series "Skins" and Louis Zamperini in Angelina Jolie's film "Unbroken." More recently, he starred in the movies "Lady Chatterley's Lover" and "Ferrari."
In preparation for his role in "Back to Black," O'Connell met with the real Fielder-Civil.
"Out of the two of them only Blake is around to account for that period," O'Connell said in the film's production notes. "So, it was important to me to at least sit with him and reassure him — I walked away feeling like I had a tremendous amount in common with this fella."
Manville is recognized for roles on "The Crown," "Phantom Thread," and "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris." According to the film's production notes, she was the first choice to play Cynthia.
Cowan told Entertainment Tonight that she spent a day with Janis getting to know her before playing her on the big screen.
"I really wanted Janice to see the film and go, 'Yeah, I can believe that's me,'" she said, adding that Amy's mom is happy with the film.
Shymansky met Winehouse when he was 19 and she was 16. He became her manager shortly thereafter, working with Winehouse between 1999 and 2006.