IN TIME INTERVISTA IN INGLESE A Justin Timberlake
Q: What was the initial attraction of IN TIME and the role of Will Salas?
A: “What really attracted me to this character was the way he explores the human spirit. It was great to play someone less fortunate, (Will is poor) but also fortunate in ways that somebody like Amanda’s character couldn’t imagine, because in Will’s life there isn’t a moment wasted. He also possesses the basic human instinct to stay alive no matter what the consequences are. So it was interesting.”
Q: How challenging was the role?
A: “This has been my greatest challenge and my biggest opportunity as an actor for sure. The story revolves around everything that my character goes through and I don’t know what Andrew Niccol was thinking giving me the role (laughs). But I’m not going to ask him about that because I was thankful to be able to work with him and to be able to infuse the character and performance with my own insecurities and fear and courage.”
Q: Can you discuss your talented co stars, particularly Amanda Seyfried?
A: “There were actually four of us in IN TIME who had worked on a previous film, ALPHA DOG: Vincent Kartheiser, Olivia Wilde, Amanda and myself. I remember seeing Amanda and all of these actors when we made ALPHA DOG and feeling that it was a special moment because we were all very young. But IN TIME was the first opportunity Amanda and I have had to jump into bed together (for lack of a better word) figuratively on this project. She is so instinctive. She has an amazing ability to feel a scene out and its fun to watch her work. We have different instincts, but it’s fun to mix it up.”
Q: What is it specifically that you liked about working with Amanda?
A: “She’s beautiful and talented and she was a pleasure to work with on this movie. It was great to see her getting to play a heroine and I know she was very excited to have different hair as well. (Her hair is cut in a short red bob). I think girls get very excited about stuff like that. We had fun making the movie, getting to drive cool cars and shoot guns. We also got to bring a lot of emotion to the characters. Other than ALPHA DOG this is the most genuine emotion I have ever brought to a character. That is why it felt so personal to me and I think Amanda would say the same about her role.”
Q: You look incredibly fit and of course this movie involves a lot of running. Are you very disciplined when it comes to exercise?
A:”I enjoy training. As a kid, I was an athlete. It is important to stay healthy in my profession and I actually think that is a requirement to be able to change your body in order to play a character. It is also a requirement to build up the stamina to go on tour for 18 months; it goes hand in hand with the mind set. You don’t want to make a big deal about it; you just want to do it if you need to. I lost 15 pounds to play Sean Parker in THE SOCIAL NETWORK and I was able to do that without starving myself because I was already fit. I could do it in a healthy way. I think that both performing on stage and acting are athletic, they are very physical. You are required to externalize so many emotions. It is very physical playing a concert on stage because it is really theater. So much of what I do with my music is theatrical and I owe it to myself to stay as fit as I possibly can. Having said that, I did actually get injured on this movie for the first time.”
Q: What happened?
A: “I tore my calf muscle because we were just running and running all day long. I landed in a funny way filming a scene, nothing crazy or dramatic happened. But we had to take a week off. We changed the schedule so I could shoot some of the less physical scenes that week. When you are working on a movie, you don’t realize how much you put your body through until the next day. Sometimes you work 12 hours a day and you can spend six hours straight just on one scene. Early on before you start filming, you will read a scene that involves walking by the ocean and you think that sounds like an amazing scene to watch from the audience’s point of view and then when it’s time to shoot the scene it’s January and it’s freezing cold and of course you never thought about what that would be like. (laughs)”
Q: Can you talk about the distinctive look and feel of the film?
A: “There are so many elements that go into a cool film like this. The design has a lot to do with that — from the special effects to the costumes and the entire world that Andrew created. Visually it was great because Roger Deakins the (nine times Oscar nominated) cinematographer who shot the movie is brilliant and we had Colleen Atwood (triple Oscar winner) who is such a fantastic costume designer. All the artists working on IN TIME are aces at what they do. All the actors are extremely good and probably better than they’ve ever been in this movie. But at the end of the day it’s an underdog story, it’s a hero’s story and it’s really about the human condition. I think its Andrew’s most emotional film thus far and I’m proud to be a part of it because I think he’s so brilliant. I was looking around while we were filming feeling like I was surrounded by a lot of brilliance. But I think what people will relate to most is Will and Sylvia because they’ll find so much of themselves as I did in both characters. I found myself relating to both of them very much.”
Q: What are your thoughts on the theme of this film? In the world in which it is set, nobody ages. The film shows the value of time doesn’t it?
A: “I often find what makes you awkward as a kid, in turn makes you beautiful as an adult and you can’t embrace that without a level of maturity and without knowing who you are as a person. I think the most important thing is to be comfortable in your own skin and know what you have versus who you aspire to be, and finding a dynamic between those two ideas. The more experience you have in life, the more you realize that time is really the most precious commodity. Time is truly the most valuable thing that you have because it eventually runs out for everyone. The idea of time not money being the daily currency is pretty amazing. Reading the script, I felt that sense of urgency that permeates throughout whole film.”
Q: What would you do if you discovered you were immortal?
A: “I would start by sleeping! No, I don’t know. I think the idea of immortality is actually frightening to me especially because I look back at my younger days as a lot of visual mishaps. I don’t know what I would do if I possessed immortality. It’s definitely a mind trip getting into the idea that it could exist as we see it in the film. My character Will is always moving, always running and it’s mostly because he literally lives day to day. I think I’ve probably spent time moving at a fast pace, so I identify with that.”
Q: The film looks at the quest for eternal youth. You are still young but how do you feel about getting older?
A: “I am happy about getting older. I like myself much more at 30 than I did when I was 25. You accept things more and you become more patient. I have been really lucky; I have made the most of my luck and I am happy about that.”
Q: How do you have time for your music, your acting and your other projects? You have such a lot going on in your professional life? Do you ever feel you are running out of time?
A: “I have never felt I was running out of time. When you are young, you feel like you have all the time in the world. But young people feel like they are validated by the things they can achieve and that is common with my generation. I spent a lot of my 20’s feeling like I could validate a lot of who I was by what I was able to accomplish. At the end of the day however, you learn that your accomplishments might be part of who you are, but it is your will to do things that is the most important part of the journey. Accomplishments mean a great deal and you get to a certain point when you realize that you are making a choice for yourself rather than feeling like you accomplished something because everyone else said you did. It is about personal validation.”
Q: You are admired by so many, who are your own icons?
A: “There are so many, I love Paul Newman, Peter Sellers, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Fred Astaire, Clark Gable, Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando and James Dean. I grew up watching all of them. I also love Tom Hanks.”
Q: What would you like to accomplish in the future, you have already achieved so much?
A: “I would like to continue to be inspired and continue to look at life with wonder. There is always something new, maybe directing I don’t know. Listen, when I am actually inspired to do something, I have never been shy about doing it. I grew up as an only child and I have always done things on my own. You get this real go-getter instinct without even thinking about it. When you know you want something you just do it the best you can.”
Q: What does success mean to you at this point and what have you learned?
A: “It is important to allow yourself the ability to screw up every now and then because you learn so much from that. But really I know nothing. I have nothing figured out. It is like starting at zero with every new project and I like being there. I think that’s probably why in my career, I’ve enjoyed being the rookie. I enjoy that feeling. I enjoy new things and I always will. I’m fascinated by so many different things and I think I’ve reached a point in my life where I don’t need to apologize for that.”