As Adele promotes her album, she’s been getting questions about Amy Winehouse. Adele met Amy back in the day, although Adele has said in two interviews now that she and Amy were never close, that Adele mostly just admired Amy’s talent from afar. Adele even said that she watched Asif Kapadia’s indie-hit documentary about Winehouse, called Amy. Reportedly, that documentary is going to be up for some major awards this season, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it ended up getting an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary. Apparently, that’s not the end of it though. Some people think it’s a good idea to make an Amy Winehouse bio-pic. And they know who should star as Amy: Noomi Rapace. Um?
Months after the very good documentary about her life became an indie success story, Amy Winehouse is reportedly getting the biopic treatment, and there’s already someone lined up for the role. EW has confirmed that Noomi Rapace, the Swedish actress who starred in the first filmed adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium novels, is in talks to star in Amy Winehouse, the film being written and directed by Kirsten Sheridan (August Rush). Screen Daily broke the news.
Negotiations are reportedly underway to secure the music rights from the singer’s father, Mitch Winehouse, who handles her estate. Mitch Winehouse was recently in the news for condemning Asif Kapadia’s portrayal of him in Amy, the documentary released earlier this year by A24.
Like casting any biopic for someone whose imagine and persona became iconic, Rapace will no doubt come under scrutiny from Winehouse fans. Apart from the actress’ Swedish heritage and lack of an authentic English accent, the age different between Rapace and Winehouse is noteworthy. The songstress was 27 when she died from alcohol poisoning in 2011, while Rapace will turn 36 next month.
Honestly, I think the accent is the least of anyone’s worries. I still listen to many songs from Back to Black all the time, and there is literally NO POINT in doing a bio-pic without the music rights, nor is there any point to doing a bio-pic if they’re just going to gloss over the last half of Amy’s career, when she was struggling, when her addictions were taking over. Both of those potential plot-points – the music and the addictions – are contingent upon Mitch Winehouse’s agreement. And do you think Mitch is going to agree to anything that doesn’t gloss over Amy’s problems and the part he played in Amy’s issues?
As for Noomi… I can actually see her pulling it off. Get her the right wig and some filthy ballerina slippers, and she will look a lot like Amy. But can she sing? Can she sing like Amy?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Why an Amy Wino pic? There’s already a documentary. Quit beating a dead horse.
I’m getting bio-pic fatigue, probably because someone somewhere decided that biopic = Oscar. Anyway, I feel like an Amy biopic is just too soon and unnecessary, particularly because the documentary was recent and well-received.
It’s too soon to make a movie about Amy’s life. But if you’ re going to do it, do it right. Show the brilliance of her art and what a troubled soul she was. In her case, i believe you couldn’t have the one without the other…
Amy was one of a kind. I really think this is way too early, but people have to make money. And nothing sells like a dead celebrity. I know I will skip it, just like I skipped the documentary or the one on Kurt. I love their music, that’s enough for me.
No one can sing like Amy. Let the poor girl rest in peace.
Absolutely! Leave her and her loved ones alone.
I have Winehouse music on my Amazon Playlist. She was a great artist.
I always thought that Amy and Eva Mendes looked a little alike.
This kind of pisses me off. I’m a rabid Amy Winehouse fan and I hate to hear about more people, like her piece of sh-t father, trying to profit off of her. The media made enough of a spectacle over this woman’s struggles while she was alive, shoving cameras in her face and laughing like she was the village idiot as she stumbled around in public, incoherently rambling and in tears, bruised and bloody.
This is a gross and unnecessary ploy to make money.
Agreed. I did see the documentary and thought it was done beautifully, but this is unnecessary.
I feel the same way. Amy was such a special person. Her wonderful music is really all that’s needed to carry on her memory. It makes me feel so sad that people continue to exploit her.
It’s just in such poor taste. It’s still very fresh in our minds when she was alive a few years ago and the shit and ridicule she got and now all of a sudden we’re all going to sit in a movie theatre and cry at a lost angel. Omg and then awards.. YUCK. SAVE IT. It’s f-cking exploitative and disgusting. It makes me feel like all her talent and problems and the tragedy of her death were allowed to happen are being used for our gain and entertainment.
She could play the part, she’s supremely talented and has the right qualities but she needs to work on her accent. Her accent work is nowhere near good enough to pass as London. (Funnily enough her compatriot vikander is much better at accents but doesn’t have rapace depth and intensity. )However I think it’s too soon for a biopic.
Can you imagine her yelling ,”BLAKE!”….As good as she is I don’t think it’s the right time for this…
I’m with Green is Good. A documentary will give you a better depiction of the artist than any of these movies ever could. I watched the Kurt Cobain, George Harrison docs on HBO and they were hauntingly real, to see and hear the actual person as opposed to some actor trying to mimic the original. Never works. Amy had that look and to try to translate that is impossible.
I think Jamie foxx (Ray Charles), Diana Ross (Billy Holiday), Marion Cotillard (Edith Piaf), Val Kilmer ( Jim Morrison) and Angela Bassette (Tina Turner) did an amazing job in their respective bio-pics and they didn’t use their own voices to sing. The films used the original singers’ voices for the music scenes.
But I think it helped that a substantial amount of time had elapsed between the person’s decease and the film. So at that point the film humanizes the legend. In this case we still have all those media and other images of her in mind, so a movie is just redundant, and patently opportunistic gawking.
I think the recent Princess Diana and Steve Jobs movie flops demonstrate the truth of this axiom.
Possibly you can make a biopic if the person lives/lived a private life so that the fictional telling can still seem revelatory, e.g. the way The Social Network worked so well.
If they can secure music rights, NOomi doesn’t have to sing. Amy can do the singing.
It worked for the bio-pics of Edith Piaf, Ray Charles, Billie Holiday, Tina Turner, Jim Morrison.
I would have never thought of Noomi to play Amy but that would be casting.
Was Amy really a big enough star to merit a biopic though? I get that she had a great, jazzy voice and that she died young, but I’m not sure she really had the cultural impact to justify a biopic and an indie doc.
yes. Amy is and will be one of the greatest. bravest female artists, simply cos with just two albums she covered so much different genres, gave us so many wonderful lyrics, so many awesome tunes. She was a complete artist, she took risks, she was an original. Sadly, her personal life was a mess, so people tend to remember the drunk, the high Amy, instead of the artist Amy. She is supernova.
Sorry don’t agree. She’s too old. Especially around the eyes. Too bad Kraeyshawn can’t act, she’s like an Amy Winehouse twin. But agree a biopic is too much, too soon. A doco is good enough and it had the real Amy. Besides we all remember what her life was like. We don’t need to rehash it this early. It was a sad mess and I don’t need the reminder. I don’t think much was secret during that time anyway. We know pretty much everything besides the time right up until she died because in the press we were being told her seclusion meant she was getting better and then the news hit. Anyway sad all around, don’t need the reminder.
Minor quibble: altho her addictions were bad, and addiction is a disease, she actually died from alcohol poisoning due to a weakened body due to her eating disorder. To say addiction killed her is a bit like saying someone with hiv/aids died of pneumonia.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jun/23/amy-winehouse-bulimia-killed-her-says-brother
When is the Heath biopic?