Ascending British actor John Simm has been cast as Bernard Sumner, frontman of seminal British music group New Order, in Michael Winterbottom's Manchester club scene film, 24 Hour Party People.

Simm, who previously appeared in Winterbottom's Wonderland and Justin Kerrigan's clubland drama Human Traffic, joins Paddy Considine, who will play the late Rob Gretton, New Order's long-term manager. Considine has starred in Shane Meadows' A Room For Romeo Brass and Paul Pawlikowski's forthcoming Last Resort.

Also joining the cast - which is headed by comedian Steve Coogan as flamboyant Factory Records chief Tony Wilson - is John Thomson, who plays a TV producer, and Shirley Henderson, as Tony Wilson's wife. Henderson has previously appeared in two of Winterbottom's features - Wonderland and The Claim.

24 Hour Party People is being produced by Andrew Eaton, Winterbottom's partner in production outfit Revolution Films. The £4m production is Revolution Films' first picture since the $15m The Claim, currently gearing up for release in the UK.

It will be the first to be made through Revolution's first-look deal with United Artists (UA), who are funding the production with UK Lottery franchise The Film Consortium.

UA takes North and Latin American rights, while The Film Consortium have all other international rights to the project.