'Industry' Star Marisa Abela Tapped to Play Amy Winehouse in Biopic

Focus Features and Monumental Pictures announced today they will partner on "Back To Black," the highly anticipated feature film about Amy Winehouse's vibrant years living in London in the early aughts and her intense journey to fame. Acclaimed filmmaker and visual artist Sam Taylor-Johnson will direct and executive produce the film, with break-out star Marisa Abela ("Industry") landing the coveted lead role. Focus will distribute "Back To Black" in the U.S., with Universal Pictures International handling international distribution, excluding the UK, France, Germany, Aus/NZ, Benelux, Scandinavia, and Poland which will be handled by STUDIOCANAL. Filming is set to begin on Monday, January 16th in London.

"Back To Black" was written by Matt Greenhalgh, reuniting the scribe with Taylor-Johnson following their collaboration on Nowhere Boy in 2009. Featuring many of Amy's hit songs, "Back To Black" has the full support of Universal Music Group, Sony Music Publishing and The Amy Winehouse Estate.

Amy Winehouse is widely considered one of the greatest artists in recent history, selling more than 30 million records worldwide, and today generating more than 80 million streams per month. Her acclaimed 2006 album Back To Black propelled her to global stardom, going on to win a (then) record breaking 5 Grammy Awards, including Record Of The Year and Song of The Year for hit single Rehab. "Back To Black" will focus on Amy's extraordinary genius, creativity, and honesty that infused everything she did. A journey that took her from the craziness and colour of 90's Camden High Street to global adoration and back again, "Back To Black" crashes through the looking glass of celebrity to watch this journey from behind the mirror, to see what Amy saw, to feel what she felt.

Director Sam Taylor-Johnson comments: "My connection to Amy began when I left college and was hanging out in the creatively diverse London borough of Camden. I got a job at the legendary Koko Club, and I can still breathe every market stall, vintage shop and street...A few years later Amy wrote her searingly honest songs whilst living in Camden. Like with me, it became part of her DNA. I first saw her perform at a talent show at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in Soho and it was immediately obvious she wasn't just 'talent'... she was genius. As a filmmaker you can't really ask for more. I feel excited and humbled to have this opportunity to realise Amy's beautifully unique and tragic story to cinema accompanied by the most important part of her legacy – her music. I am fully aware of the responsibility, with my writing collaborator – Matt Greenhalgh – I will create a movie that we will all love and cherish forever. Just like we do Amy."

Multi prize-winning visual artist and filmmaker Taylor-Johnson helmed the 2015 blockbuster "Fifty Shades of Grey" starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan. Her additional credits include the acclaimed John Lennon biopic "Nowhere Boy" and "A Million Little Pieces," both starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

Marisa Abela most recently starred in the second season of the hit hedonistic banking drama "Industry" from HBO and BBC Two. Her breakout leading role as publishing heiress-turned-investment banker, Yasmin Kara-Hanani, has garnered praise from audiences and critics alike, with Variety calling attention to her "scene-stealing" sensibilities. The critically acclaimed series has been renewed for a third season.

She has wrapped production on the Warner Bros. live-action film adaptation of "Barbie" from director Greta Gerwig opposite Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. This follows her captivating role in the IFC Films and AMC+ espionage thriller, "Rogue Agent," alongside James Norton and Gemma Arterton. Prior to this success, Abela starred in the improvisational romance from writer and director Jamie Adams, "She Is Love," opposite Haley Bennett and Sam Riley. She first made her television debut in the action series, "Cobra." Abela is a graduate of the highly acclaimed Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, where she still resides.