In Twentieth Century Fox’s new sci-fi crime thriller, Justin Timberlake is accused of murder and on the run with a hostage — Amanda Seyfried — in a future where time is literally money. The two Hollywood celebrities sat down with Buzzine’s Roxanna Bina to talk about the fascinating concept of the film, becoming action heroes, and what they would do if they had all the time in the world or just one day left…
Roxanna Bina: This is quite a change of role for you. Do you see yourself going the route of the action hero?
Amanda Seyfried: I think I’m always trying to look for diversity. I just don’t want to get bored doing any one thing. But it is fun – this is much more of an action thriller than Red Riding Hood was, and the concept is just unbelievable. It is like a futuristic world that we don’t quite know, and that’s always fun – to try to create a character within a world that I’m not familiar with…although there are so many similarities, it’s easy to relate to in certain ways as well. I think that’s why I wanted to do it so much – because it was such a high concept, and it was so stylized that I had to play Sylvia. There’s a great shift that happens very early on for her, and it was fun reading that shift, and then being able to create that.
RB: What are the themes you enjoyed exploring with In Time, and what is this movie about, beyond the thrill of the ride?
AS: It’s about how our classes are so separate and this is how we actually live – our world – and I think it’s scary because this is so much more literal. In this movie, the poor have no time to live and they live day by day, and it makes for a much more exciting lifestyle, of course. It’s very scary and depressing in some ways, but the rich have all the time in the world and they can be immortal, which is also a really depressing idea, and they don’t do much at all – they just try to keep themselves healthy, which is represented as being very boring. So there’s just such a separation between the two, and I think, in this world, it would be so much better if the people with the money were able to share it more freely, which doesn’t seem as easy, for whatever reason – greed or just…I don’t know – anything. But I think it reflects on how our society behaves, and that’s scary, but I think it’s also gonna remind a lot of people, after they see it, that there is a way to kind of merge the two.
RB: What would you do if you could buy all the time in the world?
AS: I don’t know. I think I’d be overwhelmed. I know, if I had one day to live, what I would do, but I don’t know, if I had all the time in the world, what I would do, and I never really thought about it because it seems too daunting.
RB: What would you do if you only had one day to live?
AS: I would just try to get everybody I love in one place.
RB: What do you think time can buy?
AS: Time can buy comfort, I think, and commitment. I think people wouldn’t be so afraid of committing to something if they knew how much time they had. Maybe that’s wrong. Maybe that’s bullshit, but I feel like people are so scared, maybe of having too much time, which is why they can’t commit, so maybe not. I think time would buy…I don’t know. Comfort, I guess.