Amy Winehouse's father Mitch has spoken out in the strongest terms against the forthcoming documentary about his daughter's life, calling it "preposterous" and accusing the filmmakers of "picking chunks out of her life to suit them".
Mitch Winehouse had previously complained about the film 'Amy - The Girl Behind The Name' which is due to make its world premiere at the imminent Cannes Film Festival, and today he explained exactly what his problem is.
He told 'This Morning's hosts Philip Schofield and Amanda Holden that the film was unfair and unbalanced.
Mitch Winehouse has voiced his distress at the forthcoming documentary on the life of his daughter Amy
He said, "It’s the narrative thats is the problem... They say there is only a certain amount of time they can have in a film, but they’ve got time for a sound engineer in St Lucia to say that I was money grabbing and self serving, but there’s no time for Reg in the film at all - this was the guy that she was going to marry… there’s just two pictures of him at the end.
"There’s just no balance… it’s portraying me and my relationship with Amy in not a very good light. They had a pretty clear agenda of how they wanted this film.”
Amy died in 2011, and Mitch also has a problem with how her life in the final three years has been depicted.
The film promises an intimate look at the life of Amy Winehouse behind the tragic headlines
"The last three years of her life they have portrayed as lonely and unhappy and nothing could have been further from the truth. She was clear of drugs and she had wonderful relationships in those last three years with Reg, and all of her friends that were with her right until the end… But they are not in the film.”
On his feelings about the makers of the documentary, Mitch said, “These guys have got a duty as her biographers to portray her life, not to pick chunks of it to suit them - which is basically what they’ve done.”
Talking about some parts that describe Mitch as an absent father, Mitch replied, “It’s preposterous. When I split up with Amy’s mum, I was with the kids every day... I was with Amy when she was ill all the time. I, and the family, were the ones that convinced her to go to rehab and detox. The real story is twenty times better.”
When asked if her fans should go and see the documentary, Mitch admitted, “It’s a good question. I know it’s a silly thing to say, I would go in to watch the videos but put a headset in and listen to Amy’s music... because for a documentary it's a great work of fiction - the people that should be in the film aren’t in it.”
The film on the tragic singer has been directed by Asif Kapadia, who previously helmed the Award-winning biopic 'Senna'. He and the team behind the documentary have made this statement in response to Mitch Winehouse's complaints...
"When we were approached to make the film, we came on board with the full backing of the Winehouse family and we approached the project with total objectivity, as with 'Senna'.
During the production process, we conducted in the region of 100 interviews with people that knew Amy Winehouse; friends, family, former-partners and members of the music industry that worked with her. The story that the film tells is a reflection of our findings from these interviews."
Watch the interview in full here. The film is released in the UK on 3 July. Watch the trailer here: