Following up on the success of Asif Kapadia’s British doc Amy, a new Amy Winehouse biopic written and directed by Kristen Sheridan (Dollhouse, In America) has been announced. Swedish actor Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Prometheus) is currently in talks to star as the talented soul singer in the movie, Amy Winehouse, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Notably, though, the production team, which also includes producer Alexandra Whitlin, is still working to obtain rights to use Winehouse’s music in the film from the late singer’s father Mitch Winehouse.
The Winehouse family had plenty of reservations regarding Kapadia’s 2015 doc on the singer. In the spring, they even said they’d like to “disassociate themselves from the forthcoming film,” according to the Guardian, because of “specific allegations made against family and management that are unfounded and unbalanced.”
It’s likely that Mitch Winehouse will take his time before backing the Hollywood adaptation of his daughter’s life — especially considering the fact that he was unhappy with the way Kapadia’s documentary captured his daughter’s roubled life. In fact, the Mr. Winehouse is considering making his own documentary about his multiple Grammy-winning daughter. “We hope to start work fairly shortly on it. But it’s going to be more than just a film,” he told Bang Showbiz (via NME). “All of the people who weren’t in the film are hopping mad. They want their voices to be heard. We don’t want to be like Asif, we’ll let people say what they want, but we don’t want it to be negative.”
It remains to be seen, then, if Mitch Winehouse will work with the team behind this upcoming film, though THR says “talks are underway.” Regardless, the movie is still in pre-production stages and there’s not yet a release date. We’ll keep you updated.
