“Framing Britney Spears” Director on Timberlake Apology

SAMANTHA STARK, DIRECTOR, “FRAMING BRITNEY SPEARS”: Oh, it was a big reason. You know, I work for “The New York Times.” I have been there the past nine years. My colleague, Liz Day, was the one who wanted to do that she appears in the film. And we really work as team. The original idea was to take a look back at the media coverage of her, because when you look at it through the lenses of today, it looks appalling. But back then, you know, there was no outcry about it. This was just how we treated young women in our society. And so, the conservatorship actually was second to the story that we wanted to tell originally, but more court filings kept coming up. So, we ended up shifting a little bit. But, yes, those — when you look at those clips now, they feel almost ridiculous, but it wasn’t that long ago, you know. It was 2000 —

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Yes. I mean, it’s not even ridiculous, it is actually violent. I mean, they violated her space and they — you know, they talked in a way that would not be allowed today. I mean, it just would not be allowed to talk to a young girl in that hypersexualized way, it is truly appalling. And then she has this breakup with Justin Timberlake and then he does these revenge songs and it’s all — she’s always, you know, in the wrong, and she is asked about her breasts, she’s asked about her virginity. Finally, Justin Timberlake does an Instagram apology-ish, I’m deeply sorry for the times in my life when my contributed to the problem where I spoke out of turn or did not speak up for what was right. How do you asses that? And do you think something like what happened to Britney Spears, in this particular part of what we’re talking about, could happen again to a young up and coming female performer or star?

STARK: You know, Justin’s apology, it got me thinking about how many yeses Justin had to get to get to the place where he is right now. So, we feature this music video where I asked everybody I knew, you know, who came to be interviewed, can you describe what happened in this music video, it was “Cry Me a River” music video. And everybody said, isn’t that the video where Britney cheats on Justin, a Britney look-alike? And what happens in the video is that Justin essentially follows a Britney look-alike home, hides in her closet and watches her shower and then put a sex tape of himself with another woman on her TV and runs away. That is actually what happens in the music video. And thinking about how many different people were involved in making a music video, Justin doesn’t make it by himself and how many gates that had to get to to get to, you know, our television screens. And one of his — it made him successful, like that was his first real successful album. I think there’s a lot of people that need to reflect and apologize as well, because it is not just Justin, he is the face of it, you know.