Mitch Winehouse has revealed that he’s making a new film about his daughter, Amy Winehouse, following the dispute over Asif Kapadia's documentary ‘Amy’, which hits cinemas this weekend.
Before Asif’s final cut was revealed, Mitch gave the doc his full support, however after seeing the final product, the Winehouse family issued a statement to HuffPost UK, explaining that the project no longer had their backing.
Mitch speaks to the 'Loose Women' panel
Now, speaking on ‘Loose Women’, Mitch has stated that he is producing a second, feature-length movie, with the help of Reg Traviss, who was engaged to Amy when she died in 2011.
“We’re making an alternative film, Reg and I,” he told the panel. “We’re going to invite everyone that’s spoken on the other film and we’re not going to edit it - like they’ve edited me - and we’re going to tell the truth about Amy’s life because this is not.
“My grandson who is nine months old, is going to look at this - and he’s a lovely boy - and he’s going to say ‘Grandad what were you doing? What exactly were you doing?’ If I went to see this film and I didn’t know what happened, I’d also have a dim view of me. That’s my point, it’s not true.”
Back in April, the Winehouse family explained their reasons for withdrawing their support from Asif’s documentary, telling HuffPost UK: “By misunderstanding the condition and its treatment, the film suggests for instance that not enough was done for Amy, that her family and management pushed her into performing or did not do enough to help her.”
Amy and Mitch Winehouse
When the ‘Loose Women’ ladies asked Mitch if he believes he did anything wrong while Amy was alive, the London cabbie replied ‘no’, adding: “The one thing these people don’t understand is the nature of addiction... If you do, you will understand how difficult it is. We made everything available for Amy.
“Treatment, psychoanalysis, in and out of treatment, left, right and centre, I can’t tell you. The hours we spent trying, the family interventions. This nonsense about Amy being left on her own for the last three years of her life is incredibly insulting and it’s insulting to families who are struggling with addiction, up and down the country.
“She had a lovely boyfriend, she had wonderful friends, she had her PAs, they’re not in the film. They don’t have a voice... Reg did six, seven hours of interviews, not in the film, I did dozens of hours of interviews and you hear my voice three times and what I say is misrepresented.”
The poster for 'Amy'
As Gawker noted in their ‘Amy’ review, this isn’t the first time Mitch has worked on a project about his daughter’s life, and back in 2010, a 23-minute special ‘My Daughter Amy’ aired on Channel 4.
‘My Daughter Amy’ was filmed when the troubled star was staying in St Lucia, and when Mitch arrived in the Caribbean with a camera crew, his daughter showed unease and did not want to filmed.
According to the website, one of Mitch’s contentions is the way this show is presented by Asif.
Nevertheless, Asif’s ‘Amy’ will open this weekend (Friday 3 July), and received rave reviews from critics, following its Cannes Film Festival premiere.
Despite his issues with the doc, Mitch is still urging fans to see it, and stated on ‘Loose Women’: “You’ve got to go and see the film because the first 45 minutes, you see film of Amy that is incredibly beautiful. It’s absolutely incredible and I’ve got to say 'thank you to the guys' because if it wasn’t for them no one would be seeing the movies [footage].
“But there are other movies [footage] that people have got, that wouldn’t give them to these people [Asif Kapadia’s film].”
Watch the 'Amy' trailer below...