By Rollo Ross and Marie-Louise Gumuchian
LONDON (Reuters) - A new film about the late British singer Amy Winehouse is misleading, her father said on Monday, and the family of the six-time Grammy Award winner was disassociating itself from the production.
Mitch Winehouse said he was not happy with the way the makers of "AMY", which will screened at the Cannes Film Festival next month, had portrayed him. The film was directed by Asif Kapadia, who won a BAFTA for his documentary "Senna" on the late Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna.
"What they have tried to do was to make a film which is a Hollywood blockbuster. They have forgotten it is a documentary," Winehouse told Reuters in an interview. "There is a villain, me ... and there's the heroine who dies at the end ... My overall feeling is of grave disappointment."
Amy Winehouse, seen as one of the most talented singers of her generation, died from alcohol poisoning in July 2011 at her London home, aged 27. The singer, known for hits such as "Rehab" and "Back to Black" had struggled with drinking and drug problems throughout much of her career.
Winehouse praised the use of video of a younger Amy, shown laughing and being funny, but criticised the film's narrative.
"When I first saw the Senna film I thought 'This is it. I'm looking at history here'," said Winehouse, who now fronts the family's charitable Amy Winehouse Foundation.
"The way they have cut it, (in) the last third of the film I'm hardly in it, giving the impression that we weren't there and that's what so disappointing ... Everyone knows that I was with Amy all the time."
Winehouse said the film missed details such as an interview the singer's boyfriend, Reg Traviss.
"This is not the film that Amy would have wanted," he said, adding he could consider legal action after the film is released: "If our solicitors feel that we've got a case, we will certainly proceed against them ... but really that would be a last resort."
The "AMY" filmmakers defended the documentary.
"When we were approached to make the film, we came on board with the full backing of the Winehouse family and we approached the project with total objectivity," they said in a statement, adding they had conducted around 100 interviews for the film.
"The story that the film tells is a reflection of our findings from these interviews."