Sam's finally living the life of Riley

Last updated at 08:17 13 July 2007


Sam Riley and his band 10,000

Things had an album contract,

managed to score some good

gigs supporting the likes of

Babyshambles and Razorlight,

then crashed and burned.

So it was back to doing odd jobs,

such asworking in a warehouse

folding shirts, and occasionally

sponging off his parents.

Riley called his old talent agent

and asked if they'd cast James

Bond yet.

She laughed and

suggested he check out

auditions for a movie called

Control, about the rise of Ian

Curtis, lead singer of post-punk

band Joy Division, and his tragic

death at the age of 23.

Fast-forward to the Cannes Film

Festival two months ago, when

Control had its world premiere,

launching Riley, who portrayed

Curtis, as a star in the making,

All of sudden, everyone wanted

to know Riley.

10,000 Things was meant to

launch Riley and the other band

members big time. They were

signed by Polydor but, as Riley

confessed, "we were a bunch of

very chaotic young men and we

ended up half self-imploding and

had record company problems".

Riley always enjoyed acting.

He'd played the cowardly lion in

The Wizard Of Oz at school and

his parents, a textile executive

and a teacher, were always

supportive.

Raised in West Yorkshire, Riley's

a real Yorkshireman. "Cricket in

the summer, ale, textiles - I've

got the genetic make-up," he

adds.

In Berlin, where he now

lives with his Control co-star

Alexandra Maria Lara, he has

been thinking of joining the

Berlin cricket club.

In Control, Riley goes from a lad

in his late teens to young

married man on the cusp of a

massive breakthrough with Joy

Division. Riley gives a scorching

performance, and his scenes

with Samantha Morton, as his

wife, are some of the best I've

seen in a movie all year.

Control will gets its UK premiere

at the Edinburgh Film Festival in

August and will go on general

release in October.

10,000 Things are reuniting on

July 21, for a one-off gig at the

Moor Festival (Addingham,

Moorside, West Yorkshire).

But as Harvey Weinstein is

opening the movie in the U.S. in

December, I somehow don't

think he'll let Riley get into rock

'n' roll full-time again - and nor

will he go back to folding shirts.

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