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‘The house was small, the life was big’: how Amy Winehouse’s homes were recreated for Back to Black
Set designers Katie Spencer and Sarah Greenwood went from Barbie to the darker world of the Winehouse biopic. They explain how even a Smeg fridge evokes the singer’s dreams
Her childhood bedroom is portrayed as a slightly unreal place of sanctuary where Abela-as-Winehouse scribbles lyrics and improvises melodies sitting cross-legged on her bed, the walls behind her whitewashed brick. Her first Camden home, a mess of shoe boxes and mugs, features a giant jukebox customised with her own records and handwritten tracklists, the reeded glass of her front door obscuring and distorting every visitor suggesting the dangers that lurk outside. I love that she was this old fashioned girl.” This pen-and-paper approach bled into Greenwood and Spencer’s work: despite only getting fleeting appearances on screen, in Amy’s teenage bedroom they doodled on the walls, meticulously recreated her diaries and kept everything tech-free.
Or read this on The Guardian
