Marisa Abela has spoken out about how the reception to her Amy Winehouse film impacted her.
Last year, the Industry actor played the lead in the biopic Back To Black, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, which also starred Jack O’Connell, Eddie Marsan and Lesley Maville.
From the moment the movie was first announced, many were left questioning whether Back To Black was appropriate or necessary, given how many times Amy’s story has already been told in various documentaries.
And once it was finally released, it didn’t really fare too well with critics, either.
Reflecting on the reaction to Back To Black during an interview with The Independent, Marisa admitted: “You can’t help but take things incredibly personally, whatever someone’s intent is.
“I think some people do mean for you to take it personally and some don’t. But things did start to feel a bit scary, like when some of the first tabloid articles were coming out.”
On how she dealt with the negative reception, Marisa admitted she “just turned my phone off” and “deleted Instagram for about six months”.
Marisa admitted that having anticipated a backlash to Industry that never really came, “I don’t think I quite prepared for everything that happened” with regards to Back To Black.
Because of Amy’s struggles with both addiction and an eating disorder, Marisa worked closely with a dietician to help lose weight for the role, which came with its own startling effects.
“I felt like I had a lot of autonomy over my body and the choices I was making,” she recalled.
“But when other people start commenting on it, that’s when it becomes difficult because it’s hard to un-hear someone saying ‘you look amazing’ when you know your body is in an unhealthy and unsustainable place.”
Last year, Marisa spoke about Back To Black’s reviews with Rolling Stone, claiming: “It was a more exposing experience to anything I’ve dealt with in the past. I’ll never fully understand the need to be a negative presence.
“But I think that my response to it was, and only ever could have, been, to work hard. To create something meaningful and a story that felt like it was being told from the inside out, finally, rather than a kind of voyeuristic look into Amy’s life.”
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