some good and interesting news regarding the movie! I'd like to hear
to what you all think...
courtesy of www.poptones.co.uk >

(Poptone) How are you going to be approaching the soundtracks to the
Joy Division movie?

There are likely going to be three soundtracks to the movie; the
first will consist of original Joy Division music, the second will
consist of incidental music for the film, hopefully from the members
of New Order, though, they may not be recording as New Order, per se.
And the third soundtrack will be a little bit different - we have
asked people who we know and like to do a cover of a Joy Division
song. So far, Mogwai and Black Rebel Motorcycle club have expressed
some interest to this, along with a few others. But to maintain the
intensity and anxiety of each Joy Division track we are giving the
bands only a couple days to record their cover - we will arrange the
studio time at comparatively inconvient times - like, if they have a
day off in-between a tour - to provide an atmosphere of intensity.

What has been the reaction of people to the fact that Americans are
making the movie of the life of Ian Curtis?

People seem either amused or pissed off that a couple of Americans
are doing the movie. We spent eight months of negotiations with
Debbie to get the option of Ian's life. Debbie was very careful
during the negotiations and would often say to us: I'd rather not
make the film than make it wrong.

How did it come about that Moby was asked to be music advisor on the
score?

No. Moby is not the music advisor on the score. Moby will not be
involved in the soundtrack in any way. What had happened was a couple
other producers did have the option to make the film on Ian's life
but their option had expired and Debbie had decided not to renew it.
At Cannes, Neil Weismann made the announcement that they were going
to be make the film and that Moby was going to be the music
supervisor of the soundtrack. That was a complete shock to myself, my
partner and Debbie, as we had just finalized our arrangement and had
no intention of involving anyone from the prior production group.
Moby was not, is not and will not be associated with our production
of the movie of Ian Curtis' life.

Do you think that the other production team will make the movie
without Debbie's blessing?

No. Neil who is actually a close personal friend of Tony Wilson had
asked if it would be o.k. if he made the film without the family
blessing. Tony said: Absolutely not.

What do you think of the public criticism of Jude Law playing the
part of Ian?

Jude Law is not playing Ian Curtis. We think Jude is an amazing
talent as an actor but he is simply too old too play Ian. Jude's
thirty-two and Ian was twenty-three when he died. That particular
rumour started when we were doing some television and radio press in
Manchester for the movie. We were asked repeatedly about who was
going to be playing Ian and told them we were not at liberty to
disclose the information at that time. People took the interview and
made their own inferences, despite the fact we'd not ever mentioned
Jude's name. Then someone asked HJooky what he thought and it kind of
snowballed. But no, Jude is not going to be playing Ian.

Any other misconceptions you would like to clear up....?

That we will not be doing a the "Rock'n'roll version of Shine." That
was the quote of the original movie producers, not mine, in fact I
stated in our first press release.

How are you going to attack the life of Ian Curtis - with so many
differerent and very intense aspects?

It's an intense story. We will be bringing that sense of intensity to
the story, but we are going to be portraying Ian with complete
honesty. It's, alternatively, flattering and unflattering, much like
Debbie's book. It won't go to great lengths to paint Ian as a great
guy or a particularly awful guy, but it will attempt to show him as
not only a dour character, but also an energetic, briliant artist. It
will be human and honest. Ian was this northern man who was under
intense pressure as many are in England to get married, buy a house
and start a family. Yet, he was in this amazing emotionally cathartic
band, where he spent a lot of time exploring the darker side of
humanity. And he was dealing with epilepsy, the treatment of which
was, at that time, completely archaic. I've described his situation
before as one sun with many planets revolving around it. And then it
just exploded. He had a choice of a life not being 100 percent honest
and living a long time, or having a brutally honest artistic life
that would preclude him from living all that long. And he choose the
latter.

The movie is in pre-production - what has been one of the more
startling things that you've encountered in this time?

The amount of press. And combatting a lot of falsifications which
have been picked up in the press about the movie - like the bits with
Moby and Jude. We didn't expect the amount of press interest in a
movie where the script writer is just being contracted at the moment.
The writer that we have in mind is from Manchester and is a complete
genius. So I hope that goes off well.

Where will it be shot...?

The whole thing will be shot in Manchester.

What was it like working with Debbie Curtis on the project...?

Debbie is actually a really cool and understated person who is very
humourous. We've spent a lot of time with her, and we've got much
more research beyond the book. The film will reveal a side of Ian
that the public has not seen before.

Do you feel like you know Ian Curtis?

By the time it is over I think I will. I think I know him much better
than I did. We've compiled every appearance of Joy Division that has
been put to film and you know what? Live - they were untouchable -
they were the best band in the world. They were unfuckingbelievable -
like stepping on an electric wire. We've got to be able to put that
across. You only have one shot to make the movie of Ian Curtis, you
can't fuck it up.