Deleted 'Amy' Scene Reveals More About the Dark Origins of the Hit Song 'Rehab'

The acclaimed documentary Amy follows the rise and fall of pop star Amy Winehouse, who died of alcohol poisoning in the summer of 2011 following a tortured battle with substance abuse. The film shows how the superstar’s demise began when she linked up with her eventual husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, the man who introduced the hard-partying Brit singer to harder narcotics.

Amy, now available on digital HD, comes out on Blu-ray tomorrow. And for diehard fans it’s a must-have, packed with 45 minutes of extra interviews and deleted scenes — including the exclusive clip above, about how her blockbuster single “Rehab” got made.

Yahoo Movies spoke with filmmaker Asif Kapadia (Senna) about making the film, why he deleted that “Rehab” origins scene, and why the smash hit represented Winehouse’s lost opportunity to turn her life around.

Why did you cut the specific scene (above) about the genesis of “Rehab”?
There were, like, 10 scenes like that. If I kept everything I wanted the movie would be four hours long! Every day I had to fight my producer. It’s the nature of filmmaking — you never can fit it all in. Also, it’s not just a film about the making of “Rehab.”

Is there a lesser-known fact about how the song came together?
The most important thing came out of my conversation with Nick Shymansky [Winehouse’s first manager]. There was a light-bulb moment when he was telling me about the time he tried to make an intervention and take her to see a doctor. Nick felt that was the moment, the window. That’s when Amy was ready to seek help and wasn’t famous yet. He set it up with Amy’s father and for whatever reason he said, “No, she’s OK. She doesn’t need help.” And that’s what the song is about… Nick Shymansky hates that song because it became the albatross around her neck.

Did her father, Mitch Winehouse, express to you any regret about advising Amy against rehabilitation?
He doesn’t deny that it happened. He still says that at the time he didn’t think she needed rehab.

As a viewer — and a woman who has navigated the lovesick waters of dating — I couldn’t help but feel frustrated over Amy’s obsession with Blake Fielder-Civil. It kept her from fostering her talent. What frustrated you while making the film?
The thing about making this kind of film is real life is much more complicated than fictional film. Real people are complex. Amy was very complex, complicated, intelligent, and had a lot of issues from a very young age. These [problems] manifest themselves in different ways, don’t they? This is all we could fit into the film. The reality is I did so much research. There are 500 other things that are not in the film — that were going on around her. These were the things that made her make the choices and decisions that she made. All you can do in the movie is give the essence of what was going on and show people who she used to be. She was this amazing, talented, bright-eyed, healthy girl. But the issues were always there from a young age. As she became more famous and successful, a combination of bad luck, bad timing, and bad choices — all this other stuff came along and they all blew up at the same moment. The worst time ever is when her grandmother dies just before her record [Back to Black] comes out and becomes hugely successful. That’s when her boyfriend [Blake Fielder-Civil] comes back into her life and that’s when the drugs kick in. It all is so mixed up and so messy and real.

Why was her grandmother’s death so pivotal?
Her grandmother Cynthia was the person in [Winehouse’s] life who could tell her off. She was the one person who could lay down the law and say, “What are you doing? Stop it.”

This is less of a classical documentary and more of a skillfully curated collection of sound bites and footage — like a massive puzzle. How challenging was that to put together?
Yes, it’s a mosaic. All the pieces are found and researched from all over the world. It took a long time to put it together, to try to construct the storyteller, to make it feel like you’re hanging out with Amy. She’s telling the story from her own heart. Her own emotions and feelings come out.

It incorporates interviews with those closest to her. Was anyone not cooperative?
It took a while to get anyone to speak with us in the beginning. No one wanted to cooperate. Nobody knew who I was. Nobody felt it was the right time to make a film about Amy. There was a lot of distrust of journalists and filmmakers coming along to try to exploit Amy… I didn’t go in there because I was a fan of her music. I just thought there was a story there. People trusted me eventually enough to speak on the record… Once they started speaking — all of them needed to speak. They all found it almost therapeutic to get the pain that they were carrying, the guilt, the anger — whatever it was — off their chests. They felt Amy got a bum deal because no one ever talked about the real Amy. She became known as a caricature that you could make fun of and humiliate. That really hurt them.

Some people, as you’ve noted, cooperated with you fully even though they don’t come out looking particularly well in the film.
Her husband, Blake, is a big example of that. I spoke to him a few times. He’s been in prison, in dark places. He felt he doesn’t come out great in the film. But he has said, “You know, it’s honest. I did what I did. I did make mistakes.” He is trying to get on with his life and I have to respect that about him. He spoke honestly about his part in what happened.