Jack O'Connell insists 'Back to Black' is a 'celebration' of Amy Winehouse

Jack O'Connell has insisted 'Back to Black' is a "celebration" of Amy Winehouse.

The 33-year-old star plays the late singer's ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil in director Sam Taylor-Johnson's upcoming biopic and while the project has faced criticism for being "tasteless" and coming just 13 years after the 'Rehab' hitmaker's death at the age of 27, the actor thinks the backlash is unfair.

He told Sunday Times Culture magazine: “What is the acceptable timescale of that? Put it like this: if we were trying to portray her in any form of negative light, then that might be a valid point and I can understand one or two people pre-empting that.

"But if you talk to Sam [Taylor-Johnson, the director] we’re not even calling this a biopic, it’s a celebration. I can get with that.”

The movie was made with the blessing of Amy's father Mitch, who occasionally visited the set - and when he did, old emotions rose to the surface when he saw Jack.

The actor admitted: “I think he wanted to deck me when he saw me dressed as Blake.”

The former 'Skins' actor also got to spend time with Blake - who was married to Amy from 2007 to 2009 - and found him to be very "genuine".

He said: “I spent an afternoon with him. He was quite open. He spoke so highly of Amy. There was something so genuine in how he spoke, it was unquestionable to me that he loved her. That informed how I wanted to portray him."