This summer, the long-awaited Amy Winehouse documentary film, aptly titled Amy, will finally be released, and while fans are looking forward to getting such an intimate glimpse of the singer and entertainer they so adored (myself included), Winehouse’s family is suddenly not really feeling it, despite the fact that they were originally working directly with director Asif Kapadia. According to the Winehouse family, there are some pretty big problems with the movie and it wasn’t at all what they originally expected it to be.
From Rolling Stone:
“The Winehouse family would like to disassociate themselves from the forthcoming film about their much missed and beloved Amy,” a spokesperson for the Winehouse family said in a statement.
“They feel that the film is a missed opportunity to celebrate her life and talent and that it is both misleading and contains some basic untruths,” the statement continued. “There are specific allegations made against family and management that are unfounded and unbalanced.” Amy is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
“We came on board with the full backing of the Winehouse family, and we approached the project with total objectivity,” a documentary spokesperson said in a statement. “We conducted in the region of 100 interviews with people that knew Amy. The story that the film tells is a reflection of our findings from these interviews.”
One of the big issues Mitch has with the production is the involvement of Blake Fielder-Civil, the drugged up dickhead Amy fell in love with who got her into the drugs that began her downward spiral and eventually killed her.
“Blake is saying in the film that the reason Amy was like that was because of me — not because he gave her crack and heroin and because he completely manipulated and coerced her into Class A drugs,” Mitch Winehouse said. “If the real truth came out about Blake, he wouldn’t be able to walk down the street, so how they can allow him to make that claim about me is so hurtful and beyond belief.”
“Fundamentally, the Winehouse family believes that the film does a disservice to individuals and families suffering from the complicated affliction of addiction,” the Winehouse family statement read. “By misunderstanding the condition and its treatment, the film suggests for instance that not enough was done for Amy, that her family and management pushed her into performing or did not do enough to help her.”
Ugh, what a mess. Even in death, the girl can’t get any piece. Look, Blake is a scumbag and is no doubt at the centre of where the real trouble began, but Amy was an adult. Yes, her judgment was impaired by her unfortunate love for him, and the industry she was in, and any number of things. But her parents weren’t angels. Amy herself was no angel, and she was capable of making her own decisions.