‘Feeling frailer and smaller’ helped Amy Winehouse actress portray singer
Actress Marisa Abela consulted a dietician to help her safely portray Amy Winehouse in the upcoming biopic about the singer’s life.
The 27-year-old actress from Brighton said feeling “frailer and smaller” helped when depicting the Valerie singer in the upcoming film Back To Black – named after the artist’s famous album and song.
“I had help to do it safely; I consulted a dietician and was being monitored,” Abela said in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar UK.
“Feeling frailer and smaller helped – I hadn’t understood, before, how much that affects your tempo.”
Abela in the Back to Black trailer. Pic: StudiocanalUK
“During her Frank era [her debut album released in 2003], Amy is fast and loud and boisterous with her arms, her movements are big,” she said.
“Once I started to change, I realised that you can’t physically make those same movements.
“It’s uncomfortable to sit. You’re tired, you’re hungry, you’re more exposed.”
Winehouse, who suffered from bulimia and publicly battled a drug addiction, died from alcohol poisoning in July 2011 at her home in Camden, north London, aged 27.
During filming, Abela said she felt a connection to the Grammy-winning singer, both of them having grown up in Jewish households.
Amy Winehouse performing in London. Pic: PA
“The more I got to know her, the more I felt a major connection to this spiky Jewish girl from London who had a lot to say and was really quite unafraid,” the actress, whose mother is Jewish, said.
“I remembered how I felt when I was young, seeing that woman who was proud and cool, wearing a big Star of David in between a cleavage and a nice bra.
“I understood what a Friday-night dinner would look like in her home, the humour in her family.”
“I loved how effervescent she was, how huge a soul, how she just permeated any room she was in.
“But also, her relationship to her art form, and wanting to be good. That was the most important thing.”
‘My job was to get into Amy’s shoes’
The biopic is directed by 50 Shades Of Grey filmmaker Sam Taylor-Johnson, whose husband, Aaron, has recently been reported to be the next James Bond.
It follows Winehouses’ journey to fame, with “addiction” and “the relentless paparazzi” the villains.
Marisa Abela. Pic: Harper’s Bazaar UK/Jem Mitchell
“As an actor, I think you’re making a terrible mistake when you judge a character and a character’s decisions,” Abela said.
“Of course – these are not just characters, they are real people.
“My job was to get into Amy’s shoes and her soul, and understand why she did the things she did.
“The only villains in our story are addiction and the relentless paparazzi. I’m not telling people how to feel about it.”
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At the 2008 Grammys Winehouse won record of the year, song of the year and best female pop vocal performance all for Rehab, along with best new artist, and best pop vocal album for Back To Black.
Abela, who has starred in BBC Two series Industry and Sky One drama COBRA, is the cover star of the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar.
Back To Black will open in UK cinemas from 12 April.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. Alternatively, letters can be mailed to: Freepost SAMARITANS LETTERS.
Entertainment
Googlebox star George Gilbey’s mum reveals his last words to her before he fell to his death
The mother of Gogglebox star George Gilbey has revealed his last words to her were “I love you”.
Gilbey died after falling through a plastic skylight while fixing a warehouse roof in Essex in March.
The 40-year-old appeared alongside his mum, Linda McGarry, and stepdad on the hit Channel 4 show.
The family first appeared on the second series of Gogglebox in 2013 but were dropped the following year when Gilbey signed up for the 14th series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2014, reaching the final.
Mrs McGarry said she spoke to him on the phone hours before his death.
Gilbey appeared alongside his mum Linda and stepdad Pete on Gogglebox. Pic: PA
She told The Sun: “He phoned me at 9.30 in the morning and said he was working – and asked me for his ‘breakfast money’.
“I put £30 in his account so he could get food, and he seemed fine.
“He had a drink the night before, and liked a bottle of white wine or two, but was happy that he was working. He ended the phone call by saying, ‘I love you’ like he usually did. I treasure those words.”
She added: “It was an honour for him to have been my son. We had a blast for 40 years.”
Mrs McGarry said her son had struggled with the death of his dad, stepfather and her own Parkinson’s diagnosis.
At the time of his death, he was working to save money to move closer to his seven-year-old daughter, Amelie, in southwest London.
“He wanted to be with Amelie, who he adored,” she told The Sun.
“They were on the third day of a job that was going to last a month, and he was going to get money together from that.
“When they were together, George and Amelie were always laughing. She is going to miss him terribly, like we all will.”
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Gilbey suffered traumatic injuries to his head and torso and died at the scene in Shoeburyness.
An inquest was opened last week but suspended after a request from police pending a criminal investigation.
A man in his 40s from the Witham area of Essex was previously arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter
He was later released under investigation.
Entertainment
Bestselling author CJ Sansom dies days before Disney adaption of his Shardlake series airs
Author CJ Sansom, who created the character of Matthew Shardlake, has died at the age of 71, his publisher has announced.
Sansom first introduced readers to Shardlake – a lawyer who solves crimes while navigating the religious reforms and political intrigue of Tudor England – in the 2003 book Dissolution.
The Scottish writer released six further novels featuring Shardlake, as well as two standalone historical novels, Winter In Madrid and Dominion.
His works have just been adapted into the series Shardlake, which features The Innocents star Arthur Hughes as the main character and Game Of Thrones actor Sean Bean as Thomas Cromwell.
The first season of the Tudor murder mystery series is set to be released by Disney+ on Wednesday.
Sansom was described as one of Britain’s best historical novelists. Pic: Pan Macmillian/PA
Announcing his death on Monday, publishers Pan Macmillan wrote in a statement: “It is with immense sadness that Pan Macmillan announces the death of CJ Sansom.”
“‘It is an extraordinarily strange coincidence that Chris has died only a handful of days before a new generation of fans will meet Matthew Shardlake, Barak and Guy and co for the first time through,” his agent, Antony Topping, said.
“This is also a moment for which Chris’s established fans have been waiting a long time.
“Chris was so proud of all the work and determination that went into bringing the novels to our television screens, which I hope will bring an entirely new audience to the books and which will maybe also inspire some old fans to return to their favourite CJ Sansom novels.”
Sansom’s long-time editor and publisher, Maria Rejt, added that he was working on a new Shardlake book but his “worsening health made progress painfully slow”.
Arthur Hughes as protagonist Matthew Shardlake. Pic: Disney+ UK
She described the author as an “intensely private person” who took immense pleasure in the public’s enthusiastic response to his novels.
“I shall miss him hugely, not only as a wonderfully talented writer who gave joy to millions, but as a dear friend of enormous compassion and integrity,” Ms Rejt said.
Shardlake featured as the protagonist in a total of seven of Sansom’s novels. Dissolution was dramatised once before by BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
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Sean Bean stars in the new series based off Sansom’s debut novel. Pic: Disney+ UK
With more than three million copies of his novels in print, Sansom was awarded the Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger Award in 2022 for his outstanding contribution to the genre.
Born in Edinburgh in 1952, Sansom attended Birmingham University where he studied an undergraduate degree and PhD in history.
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He worked as a solicitor before becoming a full-time writer where he was able to combine his passion for history and law securing him as one of Britain’s bestselling historical novelists.
Sansom was also a signatory to an 2014 open letter advocating that Scotland should remain in the UK.
The author also donated £161,000 to the Better Together campaign, according to published accounts.
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