The Journal Meets... In Time star Justin Timberlake
He’s had huge success as a poster, regularly topping the charts both in his former pop group and as a solo artist, but Justin Timberlake has been focusing more on movies recently. His latest is director Andrew Niccol’s In Time, a sci-fi action film set in a future where people use time as currency.
Timberlake plays Will, a man given a fortune in time by a man who turns up dead, putting him in the frame for the murder. “I look at this movie as my first real lead in a movie,” Timberlake said. “Friends with Benefits is a two-hander. With this one, you wake up with my character and I’ll be one of the last faces you’ll see. It was not only physically demanding, but just mentally, a new stone to turn for me. But, it was very exciting. I was probably the most excited person on set, every day, because I love this story and I love this character. I love the idea of an ordinary man, an ordinary person, being shoved into extenuating circumstances and actually doing something through his ordinary way that is extraordinary.”
Not only was he in love with the story, the role was also an attraction for the former N*Sync member. “I love my character Will’s story and how he, through extenuating circumstances, ends up with Amanda’s (Seyfried, his co-star) character, Sylvia. Not to embarrass him, but it is Andrew who has an uncanny ability to take a subject matter, like what we have, and create a huge thrill ride and a huge roller coaster ride out of it. And, at the same time, this might be a reflection of somewhere where we may or may not be right now, or headed to very soon.”
There is a lot of action in the film, however the 30-year-old believes the film mixes action with substance. “I grew up loving Lethal Weapon and First Blood,” he revealed. “They were action movies that were performance-based and felt more real. When it comes from the character and the situation that they’re in, I just feel like I’m with them a lot more because I want to see how they’re going to handle the situation they’re in. I don’t necessarily need to feel like I’m watching $200 million being spent on it. I want to know how it relates to the character. And, to me, the good ones really do that.”
Will he ever return to the music business now that he’s had so much success in movies? “I have a single coming out next week,” he said solemnly, poker-faced, before laughing and adding: “That’s a joke. I don’t know. I’m not sure.”
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