He’s already booked to return to the Grammys stage as a performer after a four-year hiatus on February 10, but that same night, Justin Timberlake will extend his 20/20 Experience comeback for a live concert at the Hollywood Palladium. Newlywed Timberlake announced the show on Twitter Friday (February 1). Tickets go on sale Saturday, February 2 at noon PST, and don’t run cheap at $118.50 a pop (fees included). And it doesn’t look like us music journalists are going to catch a break, either: In a subsequent tweet Timberlake stipulated that the show is “Fans only!”
And guess who else is best suited to help usher in JT’s return? We’re guessing that when the dapper actor/singer was considering this conundrum, he came up with a tie: no one suggests stately street cred like Jay-Z, but when it comes to adding some shine to potentially flat subject matter, who better than The Social Network director David Fincher? Indeed, the man behind such films as The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has signed on to direct the video for JT’s Jigga-featuring new return single, “Suit & Tie.”
This news comes via The Playlist, and though it may seem like a case of “famous dude tapping famous friend to show off famousness,” it’s not without precedent. Fincher initially made his name directing high-profile music videos, most notably doing “Express Yourself” and “Vogue” for Madonna, for which he won consecutive Best Direction plaudits in the MTV Video Music Awards in 1989 and 1990. He’s also notched clips for Michael Jackson, Paula Abdul, the Rolling Stones, Rick Springfield, the Wallflowers and Don Henley to name only a few.
Still, Fincher hasn’t helmed a music video since Nine Inch Nails’s 2005 With Teeth single, “Only,” and it’s not like he hasn’t got his hands full. He’s got a few projects in development, with the Kevin Spacey-starring Netflix series House of Cards having just launched, his feature-length take on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on the way, and an adult-themed animated epic based on the Heavy Metal comic book series slated somewhere down the line. Check out his CGI-heavy work with Trent Reznor’s pin-ticulated face below.
