Timberlake To Take Field in Baseball Flick

Justin Timberlake will take a swing at minor league ballplaying in the upcoming flick The Open Road, the AP reports. Adding to his Hollywood resume, Timberlake will play Carlton Garrett, a made-up member of the Houston Astros’ farm team, the Corpus Christi Hooks. Timberlake, aiming for authenticity, has attempted—so far unsuccessfully—to discuss his role with real Hooks players.

The film, which also stars Jeff Bridges, Mary Steenburgen, and Kate Mara, tells Garrett’s story as he tries to forge a connection with his famous father, also an athlete, and get home to his sick mother; it’s familiar ground for writer-director Michael Meredith, who studied in Texas and whose father was a Dallas Cowboys QB. Shooting began this week in Louisiana. (More Justin Timberlake stories.)