Amy Winehouse Biopic Is Happening at Halcyon Studios

Amy Winehouse is getting a biopic courtesy of Halcyon Studios. Though it is based on Daphne Barak’s biographical book Saving Amy, which was published in 2010, it’s not yet clear if the movie will be sharing that same title. The book is based on six months of filming with 40 hours of exclusive footage filmed by Barak in the last three years of Winehouse’s life. Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning in 2011 when she was just 27 years old.

“Our team is honored to be working on this project. Although her career was cut far too short, Amy was the voice of a generation and we look forward to telling her story in the most poignant way possible,” Halcyon Studio CEO David Ellender said in a statement. Barak will executive produce the movie.

A highly influential singer and songwriter, Winehouse released her debut album, Frank, in 2003 to great success in the UK. Her followup album, 2006’s Back to Black, was an international hit and still stands as one of the best-selling albums in UK history. Winehouse went on to win five awards at the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008 including Best New Artist, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year for “Rehab.” Off the stage, Winehouse had struggled with addiction, leading to her death in 2011.

As Winehouse was 27 at the time of her death, she is a part of the “27 Club.” This refers to famous musicians who had untimely deaths when they were all 27 years old, starting in the early 1970s when Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Brian Jones all died at that age within the span of a single year. Other musicians who’ve since joined the club include D. Boon, Kurt Cobain, and Stretch. Last year, Elvis Presley’s grandson Benjamin Keough died by suicide at the age of 27 after briefly dabbling in music.

In 2015, Asif Kapadia released the documentary Amy, highlighting the late singer’s life and career along with her struggles with substance abuse. A hit with critics, the movie won Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards and Best Documentary at the MTV Movie Awards. The 2018 documentary Amy Winehouse: Back to Black focused specifically on the making of the singer’s second album, featuring new interviews and archival footage of Winehouse.

Now, we can let the speculation begin as to whom would make a good Amy Winehouse on screen. One interested actress is Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown who has already gone on record saying she’d be up for the part. Last year, while promoting the release of her movie Enola Holmes on Netflix, Brown described playing Winehouse in a biopic as a dream role.

“I wouldn’t say she’s historical, but I would love to play Amy Winehouse,” Brown told Netflix Latinoamérica. “I personally think she is like an icon to R&B, blues, and basically the whole culture of music. I just love her music and I really was impacted by her whole story. I always say that I would love to play her.”

It’s not yet clear when the new Amy Winehouse movie will be released. A director also has yet to be named by Halcyon Studios. Time will tell if Brown gets her wish of landing the role. This news comes to us from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/amy-winehouse-biopic-works-halcyon-studios-1235005928/|The Hollywood Reporter.

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