Mark Ronson says ‘Amy’ documentary is a “respectful” portrait

“Amy”, the acclaimed film about the late Amy Winehouse, has broken a UK/Irish box office record over its opening weekend to become the most successful debut of any United Kingdom documentary ever and the second-biggest documentary opening of all time.

He tells Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper, “Obviously, it’s tough to watch the film because it brings back memories…”

Ronson worked with Winehouse on her seminal “Back to Black” album, as well as the “Valerie” cover.

Speaking to Screen global, Hamish Moseley, head of distribution at Altitude Film Distribution said: “It was a risk putting the film out in the high summer to mix it with the studio blockbusters but we always believed Amy to have significant potential outside of a fashionable event cinema release for a doc”. “It tackles lots of things about family and media, fame, addiction, but most importantly, it captures the very heart of what she was about, which is an unbelievable person and a true musical genius”.

He continued: “The thing that’s really good about the film is the way they show the lyrics to make sure you read every word and understand them, the genius of them”. “I was blown away, people just don’t write lyrics like that anymore”.

Responding to criticisms of her character, he said: “There was nothing pretentious about her, she had a gift and a talent and then she ended up becoming a runaway success that led to some unfortunate things happening”.

The London-born film-maker has claimed that Amy, who died in 2011, aged 27, suffered brain damage as a result of her alcohol and drug binges.