Abela also learned to sing like Winehouse, although her take on songs like “Back to Black” has been ridiculed by Winehouse’s loyal and ferocious fans since the first clips and trailers of the set movie appeared online. Is she afraid of all that?
“I was super aware that it was coming out and people were going to see it. And that feels extremely revealing,” she replied calmly. “It’s a very vulnerable feeling.”
However, Abela is also very clear about how her version of Amy is not a replica of the real woman. “I don’t want people to have an attitude like, ‘You can’t tell the difference!’ It’s not like that. We had very specific discussions about prosthetics, teeth and jaws.” However, in the end, the producers decided not to change Abela’s appearance in that way. “I thought, ‘Who are we kidding?’ I’m here; We knew it wasn’t her.”
Using Abela’s vocals was also not part of Taylor-Johnson’s original plan. The director said that finding someone who could sing like Amy without her performance sounding like an impersonation seemed “a tall order.” But even though Abela told Taylor-Johnson early on that she wasn’t really a singer, simply lip-syncing was never what she wanted. “Amy is one of the most iconic singers of her time, so singing is non-negotiable for me,” Abela said. To believably be Winehouse, she had to at least look like the way Winehouse sounded when she sang, even if that meant simply learning physical characteristics like “what you can see in my throat, my jaw. But I will work as hard as I can to get to where I am singing as Amy. Are not alike Amy.”
So Abela dedicated herself to singing lessons two and a half hours a day for four months and working with a record producer. Giles Martin—who trained Taron Egerton because Rocket Man—to learn how to recreate Winehouse’s style. “The harder I work, the closer I get to my goal,” she said. Abela’s vocals—recorded at the iconic Abbey Road Studios, the location of Winehouse’s last recording with her hero, Tony Bennett—are included in the film.
The aim, the star says, was to show how brightly Winehouse shined, how deeply she felt and how it all culminated in her iconic music. , despite her struggles with addiction and bulimia. “My job is to try to show that,” Abela said.
Viewers often describe Winehouse’s career, life, and death as tragic. But Abela was attracted to Greenhalgh’s script and Taylor-Johnson’s vision because of the “life, joy, power and effervescence” they held. “I wanted to tell a story that reminded me that she was a fucking riot, you know?”
by Asif Kapadia documentary 2015 Amy is truly a tragic depiction of Winehouse’s downfall, even if it aims to be objective. The film, which won the Academy Award for best documentary, combines footage of Winehouse with interviews with the people who knew her best—including her best friend, Juliette Ashby; her close friend and manager from 1999 to 2006, Nick Shymansky; and Fielder-civilian. her father, Mitch Wine House, also participated in the movie but in the end hate it. Abela found it extremely useful.
