‘In Time’ Director Talks About Casting Justin Timberlake (Video)

Andrew Niccol helms the upcoming sci-fi action film, In Time, which stars Justin Timberlake as a poor man living in a society that uses time as currency. In a world where no one ages past 25, time is used to pay for everything from food to clothing. Therefore, the rich can live forever, and the poor die young.

Timberlake’s character, Will Salas, is accused of murder when he inherits time from a wealthy man who has been alive for more than a century. He is forced to go on the run, taking a wealthy man’s daughter (Amanda Seyfried) with him.

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Niccol told The Hollywood Reporter that he has been following Timberlake’s acting career for quite some time.

“Justin I’d been tracking since Alpha Dog so I knew he was a talented actor as well as a performer. That was an easy decision because he’s a great modern everyman for me,” said Niccol, who spoke with THR at the premiere event for In Time.

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“And Amanda has this great combination where she can be the bird in the gilded cage, but she has a feisty side to her as well. So I knew she could be the Bonnie in this Bonnie and Clyde adventure,” added Niccol.

Niccol, who helmed the sci-fi drama Gattaca, said the idea for the film came to him because he loves the “very literal metaphor of living in the moment.” “And if you see your seconds ticking away it may make your more conscious of how you spend your time,” he said.

FILM REVIEW: In Time

An interesting aspect of the film is that the entire cast must look 25 years old. While some of the characters are much older in years, their physical appearance stays in their 20s. THR asked Niccol how he made a young person seem much older.

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“You remind them how long they’ve been in the planet,” he said. “Their tastes are more refined and you write dialogue for them that’s more articulate than a 25-year-old and you dress them in a more refined way even if you’re a thug like Alex Pettyfer’s character, you’re a 75-year-old thug so you would dress sharp.”

The 20th Century Fox film also stars Olivia Wilde, Cillian Murphy, Matt Bomer, Johnny Galecki and Mad Men’s Vincent Kartheiser. It opens in theaters Oct. 28.