With Jessica Biel starring in Hulu’s new true crime miniseries Candy, nobody could have guessed that her husband and former boy-bander Justin Timberlake would make a special appearance. The singer makes a cameo in the final episodes of the series, and Biel revealed how it came about.
Jessica Biel stars in Candy as the titular suburban housewife accused of murdering her friend after having a love affair with her husband. Based on the actual story of Candy Montgomery, the series also stars Melanie Lynskey, Pablo Schreiber, Timothy Simons, and Raúl Esparza. Not only that, but Justin Timberlake will also appear as a police officer in the upcoming finale.
Biel, who also executive produces the project, told EW how her hubby landed the role, and it was basically all him:
Justin was reading the scripts. We always share material and get notes from each other and stuff like that. And he was reading it, and he asked about that particular character, Steve Deffibaugh, [and said] 'Who's playing this guy?' I said, 'Oh, I don't know. Probably like a local amazing actor from Atlanta.' 'We don't have any money left' was basically the conversation. And he said, 'I want to play this part.' And I said, 'Yeah. Okay.' He goes, 'No, no. I want to play this part.’
It’s pretty cute how Biel and Timberlake share material from upcoming projects with each other. It does sound like Biel was surprised when Timberlake expressed interest in playing Steve Deffibaugh, but it appears that the "Suit & Tie" singer was all-in from the start.
As for what he wanted the role to look like, Justin Timberlake had a couple of simple requests that were easy to come by. Jessica Biel explained what the former NSYNC member wanted out of the role:
We told him, 'We can't pay you,' and he goes, 'I don't care about getting paid. I just want you to pay for my wig and I want my prosthetic belly,' We were like, 'That we can do.'
Timberlake’s role as Steve Deffibaugh is one of the former investigators. It will be interesting to see how that wig and belly will come into play and how all-in he will go, especially considering he wasn’t paid for the role. Plus, he got to spend more time with his wife and even got a bromance out of it with Melanie Lynskey’s husband, Jason Ritter, who also appears as a police officer.
Candy marks Jessica Biel’s first television role since 2017’s The Sinner on USA Network, excluding 2019’s Limetown on Facebook Watch. Over the last couple of years, Biel has also served as an executive producer on the first season of Freeform’s hit series Cruel Sumer last year and did a voiceover as herself in an episode of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? on HBO Max.
Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake’s relationship has always been a special one. JT opened up in 2018 about how he fell in love with the 7th Heaven alum, while Biel revealed a year prior how they make their marriage work. It’s always great when a couple works together to just further prove their relationship, so hopefully, this won’t be the last time we see them on screen together.
Candy is streaming now on Hulu with a subscription.
