Plans announced for Joy Division film

LOS ANGELES (Film News Website) - A film is to be made based on the life of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, according to reports. The film is to be developed by American producer Amy Hobby, who was behind the Maggie Gyllenhall film Secretary, trade newspaper Variety said. Curtis committed suicide in 1980, aged 23, shortly before Joy Division were due to tour the UK. The band are regarded as one of rock's most iconic bands.
Moby will act as the film's musical advisor.

The biopic of the life of the tragic rock star follows the 2002's 24 Hour Party People, a film which sought to tell the history of the Manchester music scene through the trials of Joy Division's label, Factory Records. Curtis was played by the actor Sean Harris in the film. Curtis' death - and the subsequent rise of his bandmates as band New Order - were dealt with in the film, although only briefly.

The film is being made with the help of London-based Neal Weisman, a friend of former Factory Records chief Tony Wilson. "Ian Curtis was a tragic romantic in the classic sense of the word," Mr Weisman said at the Cannes Film Festival. "He always thought he would be famous as some kind of poet and die by his mid-20s, and that's what happened."

Joy Division's introspective sound made them legendary, becoming a hallmark of Britain's post-punk music scene. Their debut 'Unknown Pleasures' is regarded as a cult classic, while the band had a global hit with 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', released after Curtis' death. The film is expected to start shooting next year, though no details of castinng are yet available.