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Amy Winehouse‘s close relationship with her jazz singer grandmother Cynthia will be at the heart of the new film Back To Black, currently filming in London.
A petite, stylish figure, Cynthia taught her granddaughter how to dress, what music to listen to and how to read tarot cards.
And Amy showed her love for her grandmother, a one-time girlfriend of legendary jazz trumpeter Ronnie Scott, by getting a tattoo of a singer with the word ‘Cynthia’ underneath.
Amy’s dad Mitch says that Back To Black (Winehouse’s second album) was written as a tribute to Cynthia — who will be played by Oscar and BAFTA-nominated actress Lesley Manville. (At 66, Manville is only 12 years older than her screen son, Eddie Marsan . . . but that’s showbiz.)
Marisa Abela and Eddie Marsan filming the new Amy Winehouse inspired movie Back To Black in London
Oscar and BAFTA-nominated actress Lesley Manville will play Cynthia, Amy Winehouse’s grandmother
Mitch would always say that charismatic East End Jewish matriarch Cynthia was Amy’s biggest influence and that her death in 2006 contributed to his daughter’s long downward spiral into drugs and eventual oblivion.
‘I think my mum had the biggest influence on Amy,’ he said.
‘She told Amy a lot about the history of jazz. They had a wonderful relationship, because she looked after Amy a lot when Janis and I were working.’
Winehouse’s first manager Nick Godwyn agreed. ‘Cynthia was the only person who could make Amy behave and who she would really listen to.’
It had been Cynthia’s idea to send Amy to stage school, starting with Saturday morning classes in Barnet aged nine. From 14 she went to the Sylvia Young stage school on a scholarship, then became a vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra.
On a Friday night the family would travel from Southgate to East London for dinner with Cynthia, who made Amy do the washing up afterwards. Amy’s brother Alex said: ‘Our nan was a strong woman. Small in stature but tall in presence. She could be difficult, but her love for the family overrode everything.
Amy Winehouse’s close relationship with her jazz singer grandmother Cynthia will be at the heart of the new film Back To Black. The singer was found dead in her Camden flat in 2011
Amy showed her love for her grandmother, a one-time girlfriend of legendary jazz trumpeter Ronnie Scott, by getting a tattoo of a singer with the word ‘Cynthia’ underneath. Marisa Abela pictured as Amy Winehouse in the new film
‘She claimed to be a medium and taught Amy how to read tarot cards. She was so glamorous and never looked anything but her very best.
‘We loved being with her, because we could smoke with her and treat her like a friend rather than a grandparent. It was she who taught us loyalty and to be true to ourselves. And, as a bonus, she was a brilliant cook.’
Amy (who is played by Industry actress Marisa Abela in the film) is buried under the same headstone as her grandmother.
There has been speculation that Cynthia saw Amy’s tragically early end foretold in her tarot cards.
The lyrics of Back To Black and the video, featuring a funeral, suggest that the singer was preoccupied with her own mortality.
The film is being directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, who made Nowhere Boy about John Lennon with her actor husband Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
Canny Paul McCartney added £2.5 million to his fortune during lockdown, thanks to shrewd property investments.
Reserves in his company MPL Communications Limited went from £22.6 million to £25.1 million, with increasing property value driving the rise.
Cashflow was also likely aided by the release of the Disney+ Beatles documentary by Peter Jackson.
The former Beatle was forced to cancel his tour when the lockdown hit, so the figures are likely to be even better next year as they will benefit from the resumed Got Back tour dates — including McCartney’s appearance at last summer’s Glastonbury Festival.
On her podcast earlier this month, Ayda, 43, mused about maternal guilt, wondering why men were never considered selfish when they went out to work
Why Mrs Robbie Williams won’t be a Real Housewife
The Williams family has just relocated to LA after a multi-million-pound property portfolio reshuffle.
But Robbie Williams’s wife Ayda Field has turned down the chance to become a Real Housewife Of Beverly Hills, in real life. Speculation mounted after Ayda’s friend Crystal Minkoff joined the series in 2021.
On her podcast earlier this month, Ayda, 43, mused about maternal guilt, wondering why men were never considered selfish when they went out to work, which did nothing to dispel the gossip.
The show itself even seemed to hint at the move, by mentioning rumours about Field in an Instagram post.
However, sources close to the family say she will not be signing on the dotted line to join the cast of the long-running reality show, despite a reported offer of $150,000.
Field married the singer, 48, in 2010. They have children Theodora, ten, Charlton, eight, Colette, four, and Beau, three.
They sold their house in LA to the singer Drake before snapping up their new place.
A £24 million Swiss home, where they spent time during the pandemic, has also been sold, as was a house in Wiltshire.
Intriguingly, Robbie is a long-standing fan of the glossy reality show, telling an interviewer: ‘I watch The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills. I watch Beverly Hills, Orange County and the Miami one, too.’
It’s no surprise to see Bruno Tonioli join Simon Cowell on Britain’s Got Talent — they’ve been close for years and even spent Christmases together in Barbados.
Cowell’s late mum Julie may have planted the seed of the idea to tempt Bruno away from the Beeb. She always told her son — the king of ITV Saturday night — how much she enjoyed watching her favourite show, Strictly (and her favourite judge, Bruno) on the other side.
Clarkson has been supported by ITV’s Director of Television, Kevin Lygo, who regards him as a ‘consummate broadcaster’
Amazon axe fear behind Clarkson’s big apology
Jeremy Clarkson’s grovelling apology to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was the media story of last week.
A source confides: ‘He did the big mea culpa because Amazon threatened to pull or cancel everything immediately if he didn’t . . . and then it was feared ITV would, too.’
Clarkson, pictured, is due to start filming the next series of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? on Thursday, February 9, in Salford, with the show scheduled to go out in September.
There are hopes for a celebrity special, too, which could screen in June. But there are rumours some celebs may pull out.
Clarkson has been supported by ITV’s Director of Television, Kevin Lygo, who regards him as a ‘consummate broadcaster’ — but what does the network’s right-on chief executive Carolyn McCall think of his behaviour?
Amazon has made no official comment, but has briefed that it will honour current commitments — Clarkson’s Farm and Grand Tour — but will not be working with him after that.
Clarkson ended up in this mess after a newspaper column in December in which he talked about hating Meghan ‘at a cellular level’ and suggested she be subjected to a Game Of Thrones ‘walk of shame’.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt started a romance after co-starring in the film Mr And Mrs Smith in 2004 and were finally married in August 2014
Jolie gets FBI papers on private plane row with Pitt
Angelina Jolie had a satisfying Christmas gift — a bundle of papers from the FBI investigation into the alleged altercation on a plane between her and Brad Pitt, which sparked their long and bitter divorce.
It can be revealed that more than 100 pages of the FBI report were ‘reprocessed and released’ to Jolie after a court action, and arrived on January 4 this year.
A further tranche will be with the actress by the end of this month.
Jolie, 47, has been seeking the documents because she claims she needs them to gain ‘legal protection’ from her former husband.
The pair started a romance after co-starring in the film Mr And Mrs Smith in 2004 and were finally married in August 2014 at their house in rural France, but their legal union lasted just 25 months.
Since then they have been fighting over custody of their six children, although the two eldest — Maddox and Pax — are now no longer minors (the others are Zahara, 17; Shiloh, 16; and Vivienne and Knox, 14).
Jolie appears to be pursuing Pitt, 59, by means of an anonymous court action between ‘Jane Doe’ and the FBI, which investigated an alleged altercation between the pair on a private jet in 2016.
Pitt was accused of pouring red wine and beer over his ex and their children, and assaulting them, on the plane — claims he denies.
The allegations were investigated by the FBI at the time but no charges were brought. Details of the incident first surfaced in August last year, when a Freedom of Information court filing became public.
And it is papers from the FBI’s investigation that Jolie has been battling to get her hands on.
Meanwhile, the row over Chateau Miraval, the couple’s jointly-owned vineyard in Provence, also rumbles on.
Jolie sold her shares in the winery, famed for its rosés, last year . . . illegally, according to Pitt. A court date for that dispute has been set for Tuesday.
Marnie Swindells, 28, an amateur boxer, has already been conspicuous for her cool head and intelligence
Watch out for Marnie Swindells on The Apprentice. Ms Swindells, 28, an amateur boxer, has already been conspicuous for her cool head and intelligence.
She gives her job title as Court Advocate, but documents filed at Companies House reveal she fulfils this role within the Civil Service, earning around £60,000 a year.
Swindells is also involved in Bronx Boxing Ltd, which has been going since 2018, has assets of £31,000 and focuses on sports education, and The Hurt Business Ltd, which owes £813 to creditors and has just £1 in assets.
Statement from Marnie Swindells: ‘I set up The Hurt Business Ltd back in 2018 as a sporting events company. We enjoyed a lot of success however as many in the events industry will tell you, we were severely affected by the pandemic.
‘I made the conscious decision not to revive the business and my primary focus is now Bronx Boxing Ltd and my new boxing gym which will be opening in February in Camberwell.
‘My passion is to create a community-focused-gym that goes beyond boxing and brings a real sense of belonging and unity.’
The singer’s wife, Sofia Blunt (left) was said to be impressed when James Blunt (right) sprung into action
Former army officer James Blunt has revealed how he jumped into action-hero mode when he thought his house was being burgled.
The You’re Beautiful singer, 48, said there had been three previous break-ins, but he’d been out of the house each time. So when he thought he heard a window smash, he sprang into action.
‘I kind of tooled up, so I was running round the house with various weaponry — naked — and discovered it was a picture that had broken off a wall!
‘But my wife was impressed.’
Waller-Bridge plays Indy’s wayward goddaughter Helena in Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, which is due to hit cinemas on June 30
Fleabag flies into action as Indy’s sidekick
It’s not — quite — as iconic as the bullwhip and battered fedora, but British actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge cuts an old-Hollywood dash in the new Indiana Jones film, adventuring in high-waisted cream linen trousers and (an increasingly dirty) man’s white shirt.
Waller-Bridge plays Indy’s wayward goddaughter Helena in Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, which is due to hit cinemas on June 30.
Director James Mangold gets exercised if anyone suggests PWB could be the new Indy, but footage shown by Disney in London this week reveals that she makes a pretty spectacular sidekick.
Waller-Bridge says her character is ‘mysterious but charming’; and, while coming across as ‘the girl next door’, she’s also ‘a grifter’. Her portrayal owes something to silver screen sirens like Barbara Stanwyck.
The film is set in the late 60s and shows Indy becalmed and working as a university lecturer, yearning for his previous life of high-octane excitement. He’s awakened from his torpor by the prospect of former Nazis infiltrating the U.S. moon-landing project in 1969 — in particular one old Nazi, Jurgen Voller, who wants to use it to gain world power.
Phoebe says: ‘It’s a dream come true to appear in an Indiana Jones movie — and to work alongside Harrison Ford. It was a very easy part to say yes to.
‘Making the film was everything I could have hoped for, with a chance to work on my own stunts and action sequences. If the script said throw yourself on to the back of a vehicle, I threw myself on to the back of a vehicle!’
Co-stars in the film include Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones and Mads Mikkelsen.
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