Were there many different versions of the film?
There were rough cut screenings where we’d been cutting together a new section which could be another two years [of her life], and that was sometimes 2008 and 2009, when things were particularly bad in terms of her addictions.

We’d invite the guys from Universal to watch it and the lights would go up afterwards and we’d see ashen faces. We realised we have an ethical and a moral responsibility to make sure it isn’t just misery porn. That was our biggest challenge, to stop it becoming overwhelming.

We were absorbing it over two years bit by bit, and we know there’s an audience out there that are going to go into a cinema and get it all in two hours. If that was too harrowing, they would forget the lovely, brilliant, bright woman we were trying to exemplify and just be browbeaten by how awful addiction is. We want people to come out of the film thinking, “Wasn’t she amazing?” and I hope we’ve achieved that.

Gay-Rees and Kapadia were able to get access to several of Winehouse’s family members, friends, producers and musicians who had worked with the singer. These were combined with both amateur and professional videos and photographs to give a in-depth and candid account of all aspects of Winehouse’s life.

The film was a co-produced by Krishwerkz Entertainment, On The Corner Films, Playmaker Films, and Universal Music, in association with Film 4. The total budget for the film was $3.4 Million.