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Breakout Jewish actress to star as Amy Winehouse in new biopic
BBC actress Marisa Abela has an uncanny likeness to Winehouse
January 13, 2023 18:16
BBC actress Marisa Abela has an uncanny likeness to Winehouse
January 13, 2023 18:16Jewish actress Marisa Abela will play iconic singer Amy Winehouse in a new biopic called Back to Black – with a stunning photograph released showing their uncanny likeness.
Brighton-born Marisa, 26, whose mother is Jewish and father of Libyan and Maltese Arab ancestry, has become one to watch since graduating from Rada in 2019 and this will be her first lead role in a film.
She found fame in the cult BBC and HBO hit Industry, playing spoilt and ambitious heiress Yasmin Kara-Hanani.
Last year she starred in the film Rogue Agent with James Norton and is also in the eagerly awaited Barbie film, which is due out in the summer. While she has not yet been seen singing on screen, her CV boasts that it is one of her skills.
The film is being made by acclaimed director Sam Taylor-Johnson who was a friend of Amy, who died in 2011 aged just 27, and it is made with the blessing of Amy’s family.
Last year Mitch Winehouse, Amy’s father said: “What we want is somebody to portray Amy in the way that she was…the funny, brilliant, charming and horrible person that she was. There’s no point really me making the film because I’m her dad. But to get the right people to do it, that’s very important, and we will.”
It is believed that producers particularly wanted a Jewish actress for the role as it was so much a part of the singer’s character.
Amy is considered one of the greatest artists in music history and sold more than 30 million records worldwide. She has never been forgotten; today her music generates more than 80 million streams per month.
Sam, who is married to Jewish actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, said: “My connection to Amy began when I left college and was hanging out in the creatively diverse London borough of Camden. I got a job at the legendary KOKO CLUB, and I can still breathe every market stall, vintage shop and street... A few years later Amy wrote her searingly honest songs whilst living in Camden. Like with me, it became part of her DNA.
“I first saw her perform at a talent show at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho and it was immediately obvious she wasn’t just ’talent’… she was genius. As a filmmaker you can’t really ask for more. I feel excited and humbled to have this opportunity to realise Amy’s beautifully unique and tragic story to cinema accompanied by the most important part of her legacy – her music. I am fully aware of the responsibility, with my writing collaborator – Matt Greenhalgh – I will create a movie that we will all love and cherish forever. Just like we do Amy.”