The makers of a new biopic about Amy Winehouse have defended their positive representation of the singer’s ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. Alison Owen, who was a producer on Back to Black, said they wanted to show Fielder-Civil from Winehouse’s point of view. “Everyone thought Blake was a scuddy junkie. Well, not from Amy’s eyes,” she said. “For Amy, he was Marlon Brando meets Joe Strummer meets Romeo. He was sexy and glamorous and gorgeous, so we wanted to portray him as Amy saw him.”
The film has received criticism for glossing over the fact that Fielder-Civil introduced Winehouse to Class A drugs. He is presented favourably, introducing Winehouse to bands like the Shangri-Las, who influenced her seminal album, Back to Black. Winehouse and Fielder-Civil met in 2005 and had an on-off relationship for four years. In that time, Winehouse became addicted to crack and heroin before dying of alcohol poisoning in 2011, aged 27.
