The critics have crawled all over Focus Features/StudioCanal’s Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black like red ants, however, the CinemaScore of B+ (which isn’t far from the Elton John biopic Rocketman at A-) is telling that the fans who showed up weren’t entirely wrought with the film.
For filmmaker Sam Taylor-Johnson, whose directing career blasted to a whole other state of euphoria with the feature take of bestselling novel Fifty Shades of Grey (near $570M worldwide), her intent was to see Winehouse’s life through the singer’s eyes.
You can listen to our conversation below: Singers’ estates can be notorious: If Hollywood tries to make a warts-all movie, well then they’ll just hold the song clearances hostage and bar the film from being made.
Back to Black producer Alison Owen already had the songs cleared for the pic from Sony and Columbia, giving Taylor-Johnson the freedom to make the movie she wanted to make.
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