"She wouldn't have liked the film"
Amy Winehouse's childhood friend has spoken out as a critic of the new Amy Winehouse biopic, Back To Black.
The film, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and starring Marisa Abela in her breakout role, documents the singer's life and career, covering the tragedy and hardship she endured before her untimely passing at 27.
But Tyler James, who's known Amy since they were 12-years-old and went to theatre school with her, said he found the film "hugely triggering".
"Amy would have been pleased for Blake [because of his sympathetic portrayal], but she wouldn't have liked the film," he told The Times of London, referencing Winehouse's ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, who is played by Jack O'Connell in the movie.
"There is this sense of Amy being coherent even when taking drugs, but there was so much suffering," James said, adding that the film "avoids the uncomfortable" and "focuses way too much on Blake."
The film focuses hugely on Amy and Blake's tumultuous on-again-off-again relationship, and their struggles with addiction in the public eye.
Tyler James was Winehouse's roommate, and shared the flat in Camden where she was found dead from alcohol poisoning at the age of 27 in July 2011.
Although Tyler was a close friend of Amy's and played a huge role in her life, he's not portrayed by anyone in the movie, bar two references to him by name.
Have you seen Back To Black? What did you think?
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