New Order are working on new material for the long-awaited biopic of former Joy Division singer Ian Curtis.

Director and celebrated rock photographer Anton Corbijn - most renowned for his work with U2 - has asked the legendary Manchester four-piece to contribute songs to the film 'Control'.

The biopic, which is based on a book by Ian's widow Deborah, had been planned for a number of years, but the late singer's family were never happy with the proposals until earlier this year.

Bassist Peter Hook told NME: "We were asked to do the soundtrack to the film which I thought was a fucking great idea, for Joy Division to do the music for a Joy Division film because we've never really done a soundtrack before. The soundtrack could include new stuff. Basically Anton wants to use certain songs by Joy Division so that each song becomes a video. Like the way the 'Atmosphere' video was filmed, he wants to write videos that appear in the film.

"Every time we get accolades for Joy Division it makes [Ian's suicide] sadder, especially with the film. Working on the film has made the whole thing seem more poignant."

It is 25 years since Curtis was found hanging in his home. As a mark of respect to their former singer, New Order have been throwing in Joy Division songs during most of their sets throughout 2005. This culminated in the band playing a set almost entirely made up of Joy Division songs last month, as a tribute to the former Radio 1 DJ John Peel.

Hooky said the band are considering playing all-Joy Division sets at some stage in the future. He added: "We have actually talked about doing Joy Division sets and gigs but we haven't actually found our footing yet. We did the festivals and had a bit of time off but because we've played two gigs recently and had the whole UK Hall Of Fame thing we haven't really decided what we're gonna do next. If we deem it to be enjoyable then we'll do it."

Casting for 'Control' is set to begin next spring and the production team are looking for a big screen actor to play the part of Curtis.

well, it's virtually joy division. either that's what he meant, or it was a typo. though it would be a little like love & rockets calling themselves bauhaus.

Anxiety said:

Yeah, seems a bit odd. I have no problem with NO doing new stuff for the film, but can they really call it JD without Ian? I think not.

That's like Apollonia 6 calling themselves Vanity 6.

JediMaster said:

well, if the who can keep calling themselves the who even if it's just pete and roger, then i think JD is well within their rights to use that name without ian...though i think in both cases, it's kinda cheesy.

hey, at least they're not pulling an INXS.

hey, at least they're not pulling an INXS.

Anxiety said:

I guess I don't have a problem with it if they call themselves JD IF they do instrumentals. To me, JD without Ian is New Order, plain and simple.

But if anyone has the right to call themselves "Joy Division", it would be the surviving members, no? I'm not saying I think it's a classy idea or even necessarily an appropriate one, but I can "get" the logic on some level...I s'pose...

Was I supposed to make a parallel in very low taste there?

Anxiety said:

Well, they have been performing Joy Division songs live and recently did an entirely Joy Division 6 song set. And I think they have every right to - they wrote those songs. And I find it touching when I've seen or heard them do stuff like "Love Will Tear Us Apart" or "Atmosphere". They've been discussing doing more gigs like that in the future and I say more power to 'em. As long as Bernard is singing and the 3 of them are playing, I got no beef.

CinisterCee said:

Sure!

They certainly have the right, I just feel it's a little weird. Don't get me wrong, I love it when NO does JD songs, and I'm really happy they are including more and more of that stuff in their sets. I just think that the difference between the two bands is Ian. It doesn't piss me off or anything, as long as they aren't bringing in anyone else to the mix. They can call themselves whatever they want and I'll be cool. I just think using the JD name should be done carefully.

Anxiety said:

Yeah, seems a bit odd. I have no problem with NO doing new stuff for the film, but can they really call it JD without Ian? I think not.