See Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse in first trailer for biopic 'Back to Black'
Amy Winehouse's story is getting the biopic treatment.
The first trailer for "Back to Black," a new film starring Marisa Abela as the late singer, debuted on Thursday. The short teaser offers glimpses of Abela's Winehouse performing to cheering crowds, being chased by the paparazzi and recording the movie's title song.
"I don't write songs to be famous," she says in the trailer. "I write songs because I don't know what I'd do if I didn't." She also declares that she "ain't no Spice Girl," and the footage closes with Abela's Winehouse reflecting that she wants to "be remembered for just being me."
The trailer also provides a look at Winehouse's husband Blake Fielder-Civil, played by Jack O'Connell.
"Back to Black" was directed by "Fifty Shades of Grey" filmmaker Sam Taylor-Johnson, whose first movie, "Nowhere Boy," was about a young John Lennon. Matt Greenhalgh, the screenwriter of "Nowhere Boy," also wrote "Back to Black."
Watch Amy Winehouse biopic trailer
Winehouse, whose short but iconic career also produced hits like "Rehab," struggled with drug and alcohol addiction during her life and was found dead in her home in 2011 at age 27. Her cause of death was ruled as accidental alcohol poisoning.
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According to Focus Features, "Back to Black" will feature "many" of Winehouse's hit songs, and it's being made with the full support of The Amy Winehouse Estate. "We are thrilled that StudioCanal, Focus Features and Monumental are making this movie celebrating our daughter Amy's extraordinary music legacy and showcasing her talent in the way that it deserves," the estate previously said.
Taylor-Johnson also said she is "fully aware of the responsibility" of telling Winehouse's "beautifully unique and tragic story," promising to "create a movie that we will all love and cherish forever. Just like we do Amy." Focus Features describes the movie as a "never-before-seen glimpse" into Winehouse’s rise to fame and release of her album "Back to Black," which debuted in 2006. The studio adds, "The film is an unapologetic look at the woman behind the phenomenon and the relationship that inspired one of the most legendary albums of all time."
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Abela is best known for starring as Yasmin on "Industry," and she also recently appeared in a small role as Teen Talk Barbie in Greta Gerwig's "Barbie."
"Back to Black," the latest in a string of biopics about iconic musicians including "Elvis" and "Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody," also stars Eddie Marsan as Winehouse's father, Mitch, Juliet Cowan as her mother, Janis, and Lesley Manville as her grandmother, Cynthia.
The film is scheduled for release in the United States on May 10.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Amy Winehouse biopic: First trailer for 'Back to Black' debuts
