Timberlake Art Directs 'GQ' in 'Benefits'

Justin Timberlake, who’s something of a regular on GQ’s cover, seems to have a thing for the magazine. Now, he actually gets to work there, in a way.

In Friends With Benefits, due out in theaters July 22, the pop star plays an art director who goes to work at the Manhattan-based glossy after a headhunter played by Mila Kunis poaches him from a Gawker-esque news outfit in Los Angeles. The film’s director, Will Gluck, says GQ serves as a backdrop for much of the movie.

Using GQ was Timberlake’s idea, and once the publication agreed, Gluck was able to tour the magazine’s real offices and chat with editors to get an authentic pulse. “We built the entire set of GQ based on their building,” he says. Associate publisher Marcy Bloom even introduced him to Si Newhouse in the Condé Nast cafeteria.

Before Gluck and Timberlake joined the project, screenwriters Keith Merryman and David Newman were noodling with a fictional men’s mag dubbed Guy but were thrilled to use the actual men’s style bible. “We’re big fans,” both agree.