From the Daily Mail today – couldn’t see a website link, so have had to type it so excuse any mistakes….Probably my longest ever NOOL post! 
Sam’s finally living the life of Riley
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 as working 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 that he check out auditions for a movie called Control, about the rise of Ian Curtis, lead singer with post-punk band Joy Division, and his tragic death at the age of 23. Fast-forward to Cannes Film Festival two months ago, when Control had its world premiere, launching Riley, who portrayed Ian Curtis, as a star in the making. All of a 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 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 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 get its UK premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival in August and will go on general release in October. 10,000 Things are reuniting on 21 July, 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.
Baz Bamigboye
