Amy Winehouse would be ‘fuming’ at ‘dreadful’ new biopic Back to Black, she deserved better says star’s pal in interview
AMY WINEHOUSE’S best friend has told how the singer would be “fuming” at new biopic Back To Black, insisting: “She deserves better.”
In an emotional interview, Tyler James said the film resembled a “fantasy movie” and could never be described as a full biographical look at her life.
He told The Sun on Sunday: “I wish Amy could have seen it. She’d be fuming. Amy deserved a lot better. She was a superstar.
“I was not expecting it to be realistic or completely accurate. But it was worse than I thought it would be. It was dreadful and does not do her justice.
“They sugar coated, glossed over her amazing life and missed out huge chunks. It is not telling her story. So much more could have been told in this film that would have built up a better and fuller picture of who Amy was.
“She was the most amazing, beautiful person that I have ever met in my life. She was hilariously funny, intelligent and smart. That didn’t come across.”
Back To Black hit cinemas on Friday and is described as a biographical look at Rehab singer Amy’s life.
She died aged 27 in July 2011.
It shows how the star’s dad Mitch, 73, mum Janis, 70, and late grandmother Cynthia supported her throughout her life — and focuses on the turbulent love story between Amy and her 41-year-old ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil.
Singer Tyler met Amy at London’s Sylvia Young Theatre School when they were 12 and lived with her from the age of 18 until she died.
He is featured within minutes of the movie starting.
‘Difficult to watch’
The scene shows “Amy”, played by Marisa Abela, ending a phone call to Tyler by telling him she loved him, adding: “See you later.”
The 42-year-old, who broke down after watching it, said: “I cried because there had been so much anticipation about what it would be like. It felt so surreal, so strange.
“But I wasn’t upset because I was watching her life story, because the film was so far removed from my life with Amy and the reality, there were so many odd inaccuracies.
“It showed her taking class A drugs before she even met Blake, which is completely wrong. It is an absolute liberty to do that.
“In parts it was as though Amy was the only addict, the only one with a problem. It shows them having coherent conversations and him being completely straight-talking.”
That was not at all what Amy was like then. She wasn’t cocky
Tyler
The film is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, who met Mitch three times and Amy’s mum twice.
But they didn’t have control over the production.
And she chose to have Marisa sing in the film instead of using Amy’s own voice.
Tyler, who now lives on a farm in Ireland, said that was a mistake.
He added: “They should have used Amy’s voice. I think the actors were great, I’m not knocking them.
“The actress who played Amy did brilliantly, and there were points when she spoke when it could really have been Amy speaking.
“But if you are going to tell Amy’s story, it should have been her, her voice singing.
“The movie is generalised, it is vague, it didn’t really have a point to it. The thing I didn’t like is they often got her character wrong. It showed her being over-the-top and confident on stage in the early days.
“That was not at all what Amy was like then. She wasn’t cocky. It showed her asking to go to rehab, which is something she didn’t do.”
After Tyler’s mention at the start of the movie, his character — played by actor Spike Fearn — only appears on one more occasion, during Amy’s performance for the Grammys in 2008.
That is despite the fact he lived with Amy and spent most of his days by her side.
He said: “The film predominantly showed her with her dad. Don’t get me wrong, she adored Mitch and he adored her. I love him too. But it focused on her family, Blake and only fleetingly mentioned a few friends.
“I think she would be sad it didn’t show she was a young woman in her 20s who spent a lot of time with her friends as well as her family.”
Tyler, who breaks down and still talks about Amy in the present tense, is not angry that he wasn’t featured more.
He said: “I know where I was, I know how close we were.
“I don’t need to be there throughout a film to know what we meant to each other. I was there for her in real life and this is just a film. And I actually felt detached from it. It was like watching a fantasy, make believe.”
The film shows how Amy stayed in two separate homes in Camden, North London — although she actually lived in several more properties during that time.
‘Difficult to watch’
Tyler said: “The locations were often correct — the pubs, the studio, being in Miami and Amy playing pool — but it often showed her living in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“But when it featured our flat in Jeffrey’s Place in Camden it was the real property filmed both in and out. That was difficult to watch. I’ve never been back there since she died because that would be too painful.”
Tyler revealed he was disappointed other references to Amy’s life were also off.
He said: “It was often jumbled up. It showed her being on drugs at the wrong time, bringing out songs at the wrong time.
“It showed her playing a guitar on her bed right at the start, before she could even play one.
“It flitted all over the place and made absolutely no sense at points. It glossed over her life, which is understandable for a fantasy film, but not a biographical one.
“I hope her fans don’t see it and think that it is a true portrayal of Amy’s life. It isn’t. They should take it with a pinch of salt.”
But Tyler is pleased that the film shows Amy’s love story with Blake, played by Jack O’Connell, and her fondness for her grandmother, portrayed by Lesley Manville.
He said: “Even though Cynthia wasn’t the person who first did a beehive on Amy, as it showed in the film, she wouldn’t have minded at all because she absolutely idolised her nan.
I am pleased they were sensitive and didn’t dramatise Amy’s death
Tyler
“And she did love Blake, she really did. And he loved her. I liked Blake and I am pleased he wasn’t made out to be an absolute villain, because he wasn’t.
“Often there has been no sympathy for him, as though he was responsible for everything.”
The movie also glosses over some of the excessive drinking and drug taking that gripped Amy at certain points of her life before her death from alcohol poisoning.
Recovered alcoholic Tyler last spoke to the beloved singer the day before she died.
He said: “I had been sober three years and I was trying to help Amy do the same. So whenever she relapsed, I would put my foot down and not return until she promised to stop drinking.
“When she did start drinking that time I went to my mum’s and, the next day, she promised to stop. So I headed home to do her alcohol withdrawal together. But when I walked in her bodyguard told me to stay in the kitchen. And then paramedics arrived.
“I am pleased they were sensitive and didn’t dramatise Amy’s death. It would have been wrong.”
Tyler revealed he will never watch the movie again. He said: “I truly wish that she had done a biography while she was alive, so she could take control.
“And I hope that a biography one day comes out that shows the true Amy and tells the full story of her life.
“The world deserves to know what the real Amy was like, because she really was one in a million.”
