Life of tormented Joy Division singer is made into a biopic

NEW YORK — It was a handshake deal.

Twenty-eight years later, it's led to "Control," the feature film about the life and suicide of Ian Curtis, front man for the legendary Joy Division.

It was 1979 at a London tube station where the band's members and photographer Anton Corbijn shook after letting the then 24-year-old Corbijn do a 10-minute photo shoot — and it became one of the most famous rock 'n' roll shots of that era.

By May 1980, Curtis was dead at 23. But by then, with just two full-length albums, Joy Division had changed music with their post-punk melding of dark, personal lyrics backed by a rigid, cavernous sound.

Corbijn went on to become a renowned photographer, creating indelible images of U2, Depeche Mode and R.E.M. He's also directed videos for those bands and others, including Nirvana.

Corbijn's film is an unconventional biopic that focuses on Curtis' marriage and harrowing bouts of epilepsy. Curtis' seizures are presented as a major reason for his suicide, particularly considering the side effects of his medication, often mixed with alcohol.

"Control" has played to acclaim at various film festivals, including at Cannes, where the director received three honors.

Corbijn, 52, was adamant that "Control," which opens Oct. 26, not be a "rock film."

"It's really a film about a boy who had a dream and tried to fulfill his dream and then ended up somewhere where he was unhappy," said Corbijn.

The role of Curtis went to Sam Riley, who was found by an open casting call. Riley, himself a frontman for the band 10,000 Things, previously had a brief role in "24 Hour Party People" — film that chronicled the Manchester music scene of Joy Division and other bands.

Speaking by phone from London, Riley said: "I couldn't believe he had given me the opportunity. He couldn't believe, from what he's told me, that he managed to find what he was looking for: an unknown who was capable of singing and smoking a lot of cigarettes."

Shot in black and white, "Control" mostly has music that's performed on-screen — and for those scenes, Riley and a band played the music themselves, live for the camera.

"When I heard the music coming from the drums and the bass and the guitar behind me, from the real band, it just clicked," said Riley.