Justin Timberlake Interview For ‘Friends with Benefits’

Dylan (Justin Timberlake) and Jamie (Mila Kunis) think it’s going to be easy to add the simple act of sex to their friendship, despite what Hollywood romantic comedies would have them believe. They soon discover however that getting physical really does always lead to complications. The film co-stars Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, Jenna Elfman, Patricia Clarkson, Richard Jenkins, and Andy Samberg. ‘Friends with Benefits’ is director Will Gluck’s follow up to the excellent comedy ‘Easy A.’ ‘Friends with Benefits’ hits cinemas July 22nd in the US and September 9th in the UK. Check out what Justin Timberlake had to say about the film below.

Was it tough to keep a straight face in your scenes with Woody Harrelson? I really enjoyed your friendship in the movie.

Justin Timberlake: Yeah, Woody is amazing. Woody’s just a fantastic actor and a great comedian. I’m actually glad you brought that up because that’s a really important part of the movie for me. Will Gluck and I had a lot of discussions about it. Woody’s character is, in a lot of ways, an original on film. To be able to portray a gay male in the way that he is and coming from my experience, I have a lot of guy friends, both straight and gay, and we’re all just friends, regardless of sexual preference. So I wanted that to be in the movie, you know, and so we took some chances with it, but I think that they were honest. I’m really proud of that because I think it’s important to show what could be different about people would bring them together and make their friendship that much stronger. I’m really proud of that relationship. And who better to pull off the self-effacing humour than someone as affable as Woody Harrelson?

How was it working with Will Gluck?

Justin Timberlake: What I do love about him is that he doesn’t have a filter, you appreciate that as an actor. He’ll stop sort of in the middle while we’re rolling and say “go back, try this.” When you think of Hepburn and Tracy, which is what we tried to capture a little bit, so much of what they did had a rhythm to it. So not cutting and stopping, you really get to go back and do it again, and do it again, and do it again – until it starts to really create a rhythm. You can go faster, bigger, bring it down, essentially you get all these options when he goes into edit, that he can choose from – hopefully at least one take of every line is good (laughs).

I think what Will was doing on this film, we’ve talked about it, everything was methodical. I am so much better with the full, honest, blatant truth. If something sucks, just say it so that we can figure it out.

That way of working, did that help you find the rhythm of the banter?

Justin Timberlake: Yeah, I think it was the trio of Will and Mila and myself. We had an unusual amount of time to rehearse the movie, to workshop the scenes. We definitely wanted to make that effort to make these two quick-witted because we felt that’s what was charming about them together. We tried to find jokes upon jokes, and be able to recall them later in the movie. We did improv a lot, and a lot of that ended up in the movie.

Talking about Hepburn and Tracy, were there films that you referenced for this movie?

Justin Timberlake: Will kept referencing Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, but I think it was only in reference to how we wanted the banter to feel, that these two were equal counterparts and they couldn’t see it. That’s what makes you fall in love with the story, I think, as the movie progresses. You’re like, “you guys are perfect for each other.’ These two characters are perfect for each other and they’re fighting it, and they’re doing it through humour.” But I think honestly we just wanted to make a comedy about our generation. We wanted to just say what was funny about our generation.