Stephen Robb of BBC News is reporting good things about Control, a new film about former Joy Division singer Ian Curtis.
It is the directorial debut of Anton Corbijn and seems to have gone down well after opening the Director’s Fortnight strand of the Cannes Film Festival:
A British film about the life and death of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, starring a first-time actor, has earned a rapturous reception in Cannes. Unknown Sam Riley said he was “working in a warehouse in Leeds folding shirts” when he was cast to star in Control.
Debut film director Anton Corbijn said the newcomer had brought “an innocence and freshness that I was hoping for but never thought I would find”. This is a very hard role for anybody to play, because it is very hard to fit in somebody’s shoes who has become an icon in many people’s eyes,” said the Dutch director.
“I can’t think of the movie without Sam, to be very honest – I think he gave everything to that role. It was his first film, it was my first film – in a way we had nothing to lose.”
Control, which also stars Samantha Morton as Curtis’s wife, follows the singer’s rise with Joy Division until his suicide in 1980, aged 23.
Find out more about Control at the following links:
> Official site for Control
> BBC News article on Control at Cannes
> Find out more about Ian Curtis at Wikipedia