Justin Timberlake
at Comic Con 2011 Reuters

Justin Timberlake is on a role...many, many roles! The former boy band-er has had a successful music career with N'Sync and later rose to even higher fame with his solo hits. However, its been a little while since we heard a tune from Timberlake, because he has been serenading us as an actor in more than one film this year. He stared in "Bad Teacher" with Cameron Diaz and Jason Segal which was released early this summer.

The hit comedy "Friends with Benefits" co-staring Mila Kunis, was recently released in theatres. And now, we hear of yet another project alongside Amanda Seyfried and Olivia Wilde called "In Time." The film, directed by Andrew Niccol, features a futuristic thriller plot that involves Seyfried and Timberlake on the run when Timberlake's character, Will Salas, is accused of murder. "There are a lot of guns, which we both really enjoyed," Seyfriend expressed. "We sometimes went shooting after hours."

The action packed film seems exciting and edgy for the actor, but also quite different than his romantic comedy trends and high-profile dramas like "The Social Network." "I don't think in genres," he says. That much is clear. "Early on especially, I turned down a lot of scripts that were targeted to a demographic I already had. It's about being patient, and having something in the back of your mind about not getting pigeonholed."

It seems Timberlake found a script he was interested in when he came across "In Time." "When I first read the script, I got caught up in the characters. And I sort of sort love Will's story...I was probably the most excited person on set every day, because I love this story and I love this character.

And I love the idea of an ordinary man, an ordinary person being shoved into extenuating circumstances and actually doing something through his ordinary way that is extraordinary," Timberlake said at Comic Con in San Diego. The actor also mentions during the conference that his role as Will is actually really significant: "I look at this movie as my first real lead [role] in a movie. ["Friends With Benefits"] is a two-hander. And in ["In Time"], you wake up with my character, and I'll be one of the last faces you'll see ... It was not only physically demanding but mentally a new stone to un-turn for me."

Many see great things in store for Timberlake as he "un-turns" this stone. "He's taken a good path," says Pandya of Timberlake. "He wasn't so arrogant that he dominated the music industry and then tried to dominate the movie industry too. He went through the minor leagues of smaller films and supporting roles first. That's likely to pay off for him...He's got a good fan base and he is clearly talented," says Pandya. "I think he wants to show the industry that he is versatile and can star in multiple genres. But he needs to work on getting the male audience to be a really big star. Males can't look at him as a teenybopper heartthrob who grew up."

Well, the next test of his career begins with "In Time," out in theatres Oct. 28. For now, you can catch "Friends with Benefits" staring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis in theatres now.