Watching 'N Sync's Justin Timberlake as he sits on the steps of his trailer strumming his new acoustic guitar, it's hard to believe that he's the most popular member of one of the best-selling boy bands in history. For a quiet moment, Timberlake seems like any other 19-year-old absorbed in the passion of his playing.
But in a split second, the calm is broken. A gaggle of giggling girls carrying cameras and 'N Sync posters comes squealing around the corner with a single goal: to get as close as humanly possible to the baby-faced superstar. Through some mythical teenage system, Timberlake's fans have tracked him to the outskirts of Toronto, where he's on location making his major acting debut in ABC's Model Behavior. To their dismay, however, they are prevented from reaching their target by a burly bodyguard who's never more than five feet away from his charge.
Clearly, with this Wonderful World of Disney movie, Timberlake is inviting even more mass adulation. He plays Jason Sharp, a supermodel who doesn't realize that his supermodel friend, Janine (Party of Five's Maggie Lawson), has traded places with an ordinary schoolgirl (also played by Lawson). Kathie Lee Gifford and her real life son, Cody, costar, playing Janine's mother and younger brother.
Timberlake, looking model-perfect in heather gray pants, a dark blue shirt and green boots--his trademark blond-tipped hair dyed brown--claims he doesn't enjoy all the attention. "What do you say to people who follow you around?" he asks, squirming a little. "If I were in the 'N Sync world right now, I'd feel more comfortable with the gawking and all the staring, but in this particular thing, I just try to block it out and do what I need to accomplish this."
While waiting to release their new album, No Strings Attached, which is due out March 21 on Jive Records, Timberlake and his four 'N Sync bandmates each had time to pursue pet projects. (Last December the band settled a lawsuit with its previous record labels, BMG and Trans Continental, pushing back the follow-up to their self-titled debut album, which sold 10 million copies, by nearly six months.)
As excited as Timberlake is about the new record--which he describes as "a little edgier, it's got a Michael Jackson Dangerous-type vibe to some of the songs"--he welcomed the chance to branch out. "Music is definitely my first love, but I've always wanted to get into acting," he says. Timberlake, who previously made guest appearances with the band on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Touched by an Angel, credits his two years on The New Mickey Mouse Club as adequate preparation. "It wasn't serious acting, but I got such good improvisational skills from doing sketch comedy," he says. He felt a TV-movie was the best place to test his chops because "I don't feel too much pressure. Besides, that's how you accomplish things--you squeeze your butt cheeks, go out there and do it."
It's hard not to wonder, however, how much of a stretch it is for Timberlake to play just another swoonworthy type. "There's lots of things that we do actually have in common: very big public figures, looked at as teen role models," he admits of the pop star-model crossover. But he's quick to point out one major difference: "I tend to go the Abercrombie & Fitch route; he [takes] the Prada, Armani route."
Timberlake's enthusiasm for his new challenge isn't lost on Model Behavior's executive producer, Mike Karz, who thinks the blossoming actor is a natural. "Justin's really focused," he says. "He clearly has spent a lot of time with the script and rehearsed it. That's probably why he's so successful in the music world, because he takes his job really seriously."
That's not to say that Timberlake isn't prone to occasional bouts of mischief. For instance, there's a particular scene that Timberlake has special plans for: the one in which he and costar Lawson lock lips. "She doesn't know this yet, but I'm going to keep messing up so we have to do the kissing scene over and over again," he says, adding, "and who knows? Maybe I'll get her number." After the big scene is shot, Lawson confesses: "It turned out to be wonderful. He is fantastic. I hope [his female fans] don't hate me. They're all going to be like, 'No he's mine!'"
For the record, Timberlake claims he's nobody's right now, not even much-rumored gal pal Britney Spears (a fellow ex-Mouseketeer along with Christina Aguilera and 'N Sync buddy JC Chasez). "Britney is a good friend. I've known her since I was 12," he says. "I choose to hang with people who are down-to-earth and very humble, and she's definitely one of them."
So if he's not dating Britney, is there anybody else? "I'm dating," he says. "It's hard to find people to date, period, without it getting blasted all over the tabloids. If someone comes along that I fall in love with, then I'm not going to be able to help it, and I'll be happy to show that to the world."
For now, however, Timberlake is just glad to be able to prove that music isn't all he's about--which is why you won't hear him singing solo on the Model Behavior soundtrack. "The director asked me if I wanted to sing a song to Maggie, and I was like, 'No, I don't want to sing a song to Maggie!'" Timberlake says, "I'm like, 'People, I do this to get away from music for a minute.'" Let's see if his fans will let him.