LOS ANGELES — With just two studio albums, and hits like “Back to Black,” “Rehab,” “Valerie” and “Love is a Losing Game,” the late Amy Winehouse established herself not just as a vocal powerhouse in the music world, but embodied girl power.

The new film “Back to Black” tells the story of Winehouse — capturing her struggles and daemons while also reminding the world of her artistry, wit and honesty.   

Director Sam Taylor-Johnson told Spectrum News that big Winehouse fans will probably come in with a sense of nervousness, but she hopes they will leave feeling reassured and deeply connected with her music.

“We are celebrating her. Her music is the thing we will always have. We have shined a light on the narrative in a way that when you listen to the music, just slightly different with a fresh perspective,” she said.

For “Back to Black,” Marisa Abela, who plays Winehouse, used her own vocals to bring to life Winehouse’s music. Because the film is told through Winehouse’s point of view, there were moments in her life that Abela says were difficult to bring to the screen.

(L to R) Director Sam Taylor-Johnson and actor Marisa Abela on the set of “Back to Black.” (Image courtesy of Focus Features/Dean Rogers)

While Winehouse’s struggles with drugs, alcohol and an eating disorder are well documented, Abela says all of her life moments are as important as the next.

“There is a sense of nerves that comes with the more iconic parts of her life and the less iconic parts. The more iconic parts have the responsibility and the weight that everyone knows this moment, like Glastonbury, for example. Everyone knows what this looks like and it has to be accurate and it has to be right,” said Abela. “It’s making people see Amy, still, in my eyes and in my soul. Without the beehive and the eyeliner, people have to take that leap of … this is a 17-year-old girl that is going to become the Amy Winehouse that we know … it is all as important as each other.”

Taylor-Johnson says she knew Winehouse and her music really well, but in taking on the film and at the spending time in Winehouse’s world, she now understands how deeply Winehouse felt pain, love, joy, happiness, sadness.

“It’s almost like everything was to an extreme, and that is what created incredible music. The narrative of that just feels stronger than ever, and that is what I hope comes across in the movie,” she said.

“Back to Black” opens in theaters this weekend. It stars Marisa Abela, Eddie Marsan, Juliet Cowan, Lesley Manville and Jack O’Connell.

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