He’s best known for his stark cinematic portraits of people like Kurt Cobain, Miles Davis, U2 and of course Joy Division. Dutch lens man Anton Corbijn moved from his native Holland to England specifically because of the latter’s music influence. Thirty years on, he’s responsible for putting the group’s story on celluloid, offering an intimate look at the band’s early days—especially the troubled life of its lead singer Ian Curtis. Corbijn talks to I-S about the making of Control.

Casting a total newcomer (Sam Riley) in the lead role—was that a conscious decision?
Initially, I was looking for a well-known actor for this role, but I later realized that an unknown one would make you believe far more in the character. There was something in him that made me think of my time with Joy Division and after meeting Sam, I knew that there couldn’t have been a better person to embody Ian Curtis.

What was the trickiest part tackling a subject as legendary as Ian Curtis?
One of the challenges was to put forward the idea that the film is like a “lost story” of Ian Curtis and not a rock film. It is so easy to label things like that and deny the movie a proper audience. So the acting part was really important to convey this message and Sam did a very good job.

What was the most difficult scene to shoot in the film?
It would be the epileptic seizure scene towards the end before Ian committed suicide. It was very painful to see, shoot and equally painful to have Sam do the scene.

How did you separate fact from fiction?
We talked to many people before we made the movie to confirm events in Ian’s life. Even the guys from New Order, his mom, sister and family have very conflicting and different versions of his life. So it was important to talk to as many people as possible to separate fact from fiction.

The film works on a pretty straightforward narrative. Was that a conscious choice or did you actually have an initial more artistic approach to the subject/film at first? Would you have done it any other way?
The original script was one that moves backwards in time but I find that it did not add drama to the movie. The drama would be served better if it had a linear storyline.

It’s been dubbed as one of the coolest films last year. Did you want it to become cool? Are you surprised by the attention that it’s been getting?
I’ve been cool all my life! I didn’t dream of it (the movie) having so many good reviews because it was my first film. So yes, I was surprised by all the attention.