Back to Black star Eddie Marsan has explained what he learned from Amy Winehouse's father Mitch Winehouse in preparation for playing him.
In the new Amy Winehouse biopic Black to Black, Eddie plays the late singer's father Mitch, alongside Marisa Abela as Amy.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, the actor opened up about the time he spent with Mitch while preparing to play him on screen and what he asked about his life.
Related: Back to Black star Marisa Abela responds to set photo leaks
"Sam [Taylor-Johnson, the film's director] introduced me to Mitch," he said. "The family doesn't have any artistic control over the film, it's Sam's film. But as soon as she introduced me to Mitch, I just hounded the poor man. I sat with him on numerous occasions, I asked him about every aspect of his life.
"His childhood in the East End, who his grandparents were, who his great-grandparents were, I asked him about where he went to school, how he first met Janis, Amy's mum. I asked him to come up with a playlist that represented the music he listened to as a child. He gave me endless photographs of his uncles and aunts."
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Eddie went on to call Mitch "very self-aware and candid and honest about the mistakes he made with Amy" adding: "One of the things that came over me, and it's one of the reasons why when I was working on it, I wrote at the top of the script, 'He's a father'. That's what he is, a father, and that's exactly how I played him."
Related: Jack O'Connell defends Back to Black following criticism
Eddie is no stranger to portraying real people. In 2022 he played John Darwin in ITV drama The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe – and he explained whether his approach was different to when playing a fictional character.
He said: "My point of reference is always the script. You have to honour the writer. The writer has sat in a room for two years, three years, sweating over every word, every comma, every full stop, so you have to honour what the writer has come up with.
"When you're playing somebody so iconic, you’ve got to make sure you don't do an imitation. You've got to try to honour the physicality, the voice, the mannerisms, but don’t imitate. An imitation is not the same as an emotional authenticity."
Back to Black is released in UK cinemas on April 12.
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Soaps Writer, Digital Spy and Inside Soap
After studying for an English degree at the University of Exeter, Erin completed a PPA-accredited Masters in Magazine Journalism at Cardiff University. She first joined the Digital Spy team in late 2023, writing across both news and features.
Erin is a fan of all things TV, from comedy and drama to reality TV and soaps.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
