'Back To Black’s' Marisa Abela Goes Into Detail About Finding ‘The Psychological And The Emotional Truth Amy Winehouse'

Interview with Marisa Abela

Transcript

00:00Thankfully, when I got the role, the most important thing we shared was the emotional

00:08truth of Amy and her psychological truth and her wants and desires and the feeling of Amy

00:14was the most important thing. So it wasn't a prerequisite that I sang. I wanted to take

00:19singing lessons more to look like Amy when I was singing, to understand what was happening

00:26both physically and emotionally when you sing in that way. She was a singer and I felt that

00:34it was important for me to know really what that feels like to be able to sing out music,

00:38especially that you've written yourself. But then I chose to take these lessons very seriously and I

00:49was training for four months, two hours a day, every day. And I think that I just was coming

00:56closer and closer to a sound that felt authentic. Not just in terms of, you know, like, oh my God,

01:04is that Amy or is that Marisa? That wasn't really the intention for me. It was more that the

01:09psychological and the emotional truth behind singing these songs was so important to Sam and

01:16me and it felt that it would be such a shame if we were sort of keeping the emotional ball afloat

01:23than were to sing, drop that ball, because in the moments that we're singing in the film,

01:28it's different to the studio recording. So if I'm singing at the Grammys and I'm singing rehab

01:35and it's important to make sure that everyone in this room feels that Amy is back and that's

01:41her intention and there's an intensity in that tension, it's different to the studio recording

01:47of rehab. So it was, you know, it was a conversation but as an actor it feels right

01:53that you're able to tell the story at every moment in the film.