Continuing on his apparent plan to dominate (let’s use the term somewhat loosely) a vast assortment of different film genres, Justin Timberlake has now signed on for a biopic. Timberlake has done the rom-com thing (Friends with Benefits), the voice work in a cartoon thing (Yogi Bear), the serious thing (The Social Network), the comedy thing (Bad Teacher), and is next tackling the sci-fi thing (In Time). If you had told thirteen year old me that the baby blue one would turn into a serious actor within a decade or so, I would not have believed you. The kid had Rice-A-Roni hair and he danced like a puppet, and now he can topline films. That is the American dream in a nutshell.
Deadline Weehawken reports that Timberlake’s next project will see him starring in Spinning Gold, “a biopic of famous 1970s record producer Neil Bogart, co-founder of Casablanca Records.”Because Timberlake also apparently doesn’t sleep (his energy comes purely from dancing), he will also executive produce the project.
The script for Spinning Gold has been penned by Bogart’s own son, Tim Bogart, and it focuses on the “rags-to-riches” story of a scrappy guy from Brooklyn whose Casablanca label signed such huge acts as KISS, Parliament, Donna Summer, and The Village People. Unfortunately, Bogart died quite young (at age 39 in 1982 from cancer), so the challenge in casting the film was finding a young actor who could portray him throughout his short life. Timberlake is apparently that young actor. Tim Bogart himself said that Timberlake has “the exact same energy as [his] father,” so clearly J-Timbs is doing something right here.
The film will be “independently financed but with a major studio-size budget,” and the addition of Timberlake as star should help the production land a big name director (a few potentials are reportedly in talks already). The film will obviously have a kickass soundtrack, and actually sounds like a pretty perfect fit for Timberlake. Rice-A-Roni hair aside, I’m looking forward to this one.
