Amy Winehouse biopic director Sam Taylor-Johnson reveals the biggest hurdle in making controversial Back to Black film about singer's troubled life

As the release date for the controversial new Amy Winehouse biopic, Back To Black, draws nearer, director Sam Taylor-Johnson has revealed the biggest hurdle that came with creating the film.

With her signature black beehive hairdo, sweeping thick eyeliner and individual tattoos, there’s is no mistaking the singer’s unmistakable look, and finding someone to play Amy was undoubtedly the most difficult challenge.

On Thursday the film’s trailer showcased Industry star Marisa Abela, 27, completely transforming into the tragic late singer, who died from alcohol poisoning aged 27 in 2011.

However, Sam confessed it wasn’t Marisa’s looks that bagged her the part, but instead she was someone ‘who could embody the unique spirit of Amy herself.’ 

Speaking to Empire, Sam explained that Marisa didn’t try to impersonate Amy with her hair backcombed, instead she turned up bare-faced and blew them away. 

Amy Winehouse biopic director Sam Taylor-Johnson has revealed the biggest hurdle in making the late singer’s Back to Black film on her life in an interview with Empire

With her signature black beehive hairdo, sweeping thick eyeliner and tattoos, there’s is no mistaking the singer’s unmistakable look, and finding someone to play Amy was undoubtedly the most difficult challenge

She said: ‘I turned on the camera, and she looks down the lens, and literally, we all just went, “What?” It was all about getting beyond the iconography of Amy, and into her as a person.’

‘We’d seen some brilliant impersonations, but [Marisa] managed to just bring every fibre of her being in alignment with who Amy Winehouse was, and is to many people. She inhabited her.’

And it seems Marisa embodied Amy from the inside out, as the new teaser pays the star an uncanny resemblance.

The clip begins with crowds chanting Amy’s name as she appears on stage, while Marisa adopts an uncanny impression of Amy’s North London accent.

In a voiceover, she says: ‘I don’t write songs to be famous. I write songs because I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t.’

Marisa’s rendition of Amy’s 2007 song Back To Black then plays as the Industry star appears, looking the spitting image of the hitmaker with her signature winged eyeliner and monroe piercing above her lip.

Yet while Marisa fits the part, some insiders have expressed concerns the films leading stars didn’t look enough like the singer and her ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil.

Marisa and her on-screen partner Jack O’Connell’s height difference is said to have been a serious issue for the pair. Amy, who was a petite 5’3, was six inches shorter than Blake while Marisa and Jack are said to be the same height.

Speaking to Empire, Sam explained ‘I turned on the camera, and she looks down the lens, and literally, we all just went, “What?” It was all about getting beyond the iconography of Amy, and into her as a person’

Amy tragically died from alcohol poisoning at the age of just 27 in July 2011, after struggling with substance abuse, mental illness and addiction (Amy pictured in 2006)

Marisa and her on-screen partner Jack O’Connell’s height difference is said to have been a serious issue for the pair

In one scene in the film, Amy and Blake are seen drinking together in a park, with Jack spending most of his time lying down to disguise their matching heights

According to The Mirror, film bosses have been trying to work some movie magic to make Marisa seem shorter than Jack.

A source said: ‘People have remarked on how little they look like Amy and Blake – especially the height difference between them.

‘We’re used to images of Blake towering over Amy but Jack is the same height as Marisa. That’s meant flat shoes for her and an awful lot of cleverly filmed scenes.’

In one scene in the film, Amy and Blake are seen drinking together in a park, with Jack spending most of his time lying down to disguise their matching heights.

The insider said: ‘In that scene, Jack spends most of his time lying down on the grass rather than standing. There’s only so much they can do, but there’s been a lot of time put in to making sure the lack of height difference doesn’t jar with audiences.’

This came after Amy’s dad Mitch defended the controversial casting, as he disagreed with the backlash against Marisa’s casting and took to Twitter to say she was a ‘great choice’ and claimed it doesn’t matter if they ‘don’t look exactly alike’.

Chatting with TMZ on the new release about his daughter, Mitch said: ‘Marisa is Marisa and Amy is Amy … so it’s no big deal if they aren’t mirror images.

‘Marisa is a great choice for the role’

Marisa embodied Amy from the inside out, as the new teaser pays the star an uncanny resemblance