*NSYNC had a lot of Millennials freaking out back in 2023, when they reunited at the VMAs and released their first new single in more than 20 years. Fans were begging for a reunion tour or album, but instead, work began on a biopic of the boy band. Plans for that movie have apparently now been scrapped, with Justin Timberlake’s participation reportedly being a big point of contention. But it’s not for the reasons I would have guessed.
A planned movie about the rise and fall of the popular ‘90s and 2000s-era boy band has stalled, according to sources for US Weekly, who said:
This film/documentary project has been in the works since then and has had many iterations (meaning a scripted film and a behind-the-scenes-style documentary featuring the band). As of now, nothing is proceeding.
Whether that movie would have been a dramatized retelling or a documentary, I would have been all about that — as a Millennial who used to dance along to “Tearin’ Up My Heart” and their other music videos on TRL — so that’s definitely a big disappointment.
There were reportedly issues getting Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick to agree on aspects of the biopic, and the insider alleged that negotiations between the bandmates hit a stalemate, particularly with Timberlake. They said:
He wants certain elements of control. Let’s say Justin wants to be executive producer while the other four are producers. That sort of thing. [It’s] an element of control and power that they could not agree on.
It’s surprising to me that something like an executive producer credit or having more control than the other musicians would be the issue for Justin Timberlake. I would have expected his issues to be more about the content of the movie.
Any movie about *NSYNC would, of course, cover the band’s animosity over Justin Timberlake going solo, but the frontman has also seen plenty of other scandals that one might understandably not want to revisit.
Some of those old headlines have resurfaced in the past couple of years, including his relationship and breakup with Britney Spears — as she revealed in her memoir The Woman in Me that she had an abortion in 2000 after getting pregnant while dating Justin Timberlake.
The 2004 Super Bowl Halftime Show has also come into question over the years, with sources more recently suggesting that the “Sexyback” singer might have been responsible for Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction.”
Justin Timberlake responded to criticism of his actions in 2021, apologizing to both women. But he appeared to take that back, at least in Britney Spears‘ case, at a 2024 concert, where he said he was sorry “to absolutely fucking nobody” before playing the (allegedly) Spears-inspired “Cry Me a River.”
Whether or not these incidents played into the musician’s feelings about an *NSYNC biopic is unknown, and it’s possible that wanting control over the narrative could be part of the reason it was important to him to get an executive producer credit.
The band had reportedly been “hopeful” to have the movie ready to release on the 2025 movie calendar to coincide with *NSYNC’s 30th anniversary, which would have been in October. Not only did that date come and go, but now the entire project seems to be dead. We’ll have to see if any more information comes to light about where things went wrong and if producer credits really were at the heart of it.