Anton Corbijn: 'It's beautiful 'Control' has stayed in people's hearts'

’Control’ director Anton Corbijn has admitted to being completely stunned by the reaction to his Joy Division biopic.

Picking up the Shockwaves NME Award for Best Film yesterday (February 28) at the ceremony in London the legendary photographer said he had been “naïve” about the film industry, but was very pleased with the reaction to his movie.

“I made the film without thinking, because I was naive about the film industry. This is nice you can do this with your first film, it’s going to be harder for the second one as everything is a surprise first time around,” he told NME.COM.

He added: “It’s beautiful to have been able to make something that stays in people’s hearts. It’s an incredible feeling. I honestly didn’t expect the reaction the film has got… I’d hoped people would want to see the film but I always aimed to make a proper film, not just a music film. I tried to make a film with a broader theme, a more universal theme but you would have great music in the film. So I think that my movie connected with people.”

Corbijn who was an NME photographer during the 1980s, also paid tribute to the magazine and its readers for voting for him.

“For me NME was a very big thing. When I first came to the United Kingdom I started taking pictures for them and I became their main photographer for five years, and that’s really been the basis of everything I’ve been doing since,” he explained. “We did fall out – different times, different people – but I feel very loved by the NME at the moment. The paper has a really good attitude and the fact it was voted for by the readers really means a lot to me.”

Watch NME.COM's exclusive video interview with Anton Corbijn online now.

For all the awards coverage head to NME.COM/awards now. We have exclusive picture galleries, live webcams, minute-by-minute blogs straight from the ceremony and Big Gig and video interviews with the biggest names at the ceremony.

That's just the beginning - the highlights of ceremony are being show tonight (February 29) on Channel 4 from 11.50pm (GMT).

Meanwhile, next week's issue of NME - on UK newsstands from March 5 - will contain the ultimate coverage, interviews and photos from the 2008 Shockwaves NME Awards.