Marisa Abela says the brutal response to her portrayal of Amy Winehouse in doomed biopic Back To Black ‘hit really hard’ – as she joins Industry co-star Myha’la on the cover of Glamour

It was supposed to be the role of a lifetime, but Marisa Abela says she was left bruised by the negative response to her portrayal of Amy Winehouse in Back To Black.

The actress was already an established star courtesy of her role as Yasmin Kara-Hanani in the critically acclaimed HBO drama Industry when she was given the opportunity to play Winehouse in a warts-and-all biopic about the tragic singer’s life and untimely death, aged just 27. 

But the project, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and co-starring Jack O’Connell as the singer’s drug-dependent boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil, divided critics following its 2024 release.

A mixed bag of lukewarm reviews saw it labelled ‘disappointingly pedestrian’  by some, ‘impressively deft and delicate’ by others, while one unimpressed critic claimed ‘the final scene, in particular, with its completely and utterly baseless, sensationalist implications, made me physically gasp in horror.’ 

Reflecting on the negative critical response, Abela, 29 – who returned to HBO with the eagerly anticipated fourth season of Industry on Sunday evening – says it made for tough reading. 

Joining Industry co-star Myha’la in a new cover shoot for the January edition of Glamour magazine, she said: ‘It was really hard. The best case scenario is you read a script, and you’re like, “Every single thing about this is perfect,” and it’s going to be amazing, and everyone’s going to love it.

‘But in my experience, most of the time you’re like, “This is really great about it, but these things I wish were slightly different.” 

‘If I believe that enough things about the project are right for me, then I will always do it because I am, for want of a better word, an artist. I’m not going to limit myself to perfection, because what is perfect?’

She added: ‘Your work will be bad if you’re going into it thinking, “This has to be the best.” I go into a day with a scene, thinking, “This has to be honest.” 

‘And if I reach that goal, then I’ve won.’ 

Away from film and television Abela maintains an active presence on social media, with more than 253,000 people currently following her on Instagram. 

Such is the scale of her platform that the actress, like any other public figure, is open to attack from online trolls, but she adopts a refreshingly original take on scornful messages.

‘I feel it’s the same instinct as having a boyfriend who you know is cheating on you, and looking through his messages,’ she said. ‘I’m looking for the thing that’s going to hurt me.’

Fortunately, the actress is happily married to West End actor Jamie Bogyo, with the couple exchanging vows at a picturesque 15th-century Sussex manor house in September. 

Initially friends  after meeting while studying at RADA in 2016, the pair became engaged in July 2024 after Bogyo, 31, proposed a stroll through Primrose Hill in London.  

And Abela admitted the proposal came as something of a surprise, revealing she had expected it to happen weeks earlier while they were in the French capital.

She told The Sunday Times: ‘We were at dinner with friends and he went back to the hotel saying he was ill but that I should stay.

Pretending to play along with what she thought was going to be a proposal, she continued: ‘I got back later, expecting roses and champagne to be everywhere, and instead found Jamie in a ball on the floor being sick.

‘I had to play off my disappointment really quickly!’

The couple exchanged vows in a late-afternoon ceremony at Firle Place in Sussex, and in a romantic nod to one of the first moments of their relationship, Abela walked down the aisle to the theme from Cinema Paradiso – the film the pair watched together before saying ‘I love you.’

The groom’s best man, Nate Janis, officiated the ceremony, while the bride’s and groom’s father’s both gave heartfelt readings.

The couple’s school friends, Liadán Dunlea and Iwan Davis, performed a touching rendition of ‘May You Never’ by John Martyn.

The full interview is available to read in the January edition of Glamour magazine, out now.