April 13, 2005

Timberlake's Co-Star Praises Him, Denounces Hollywood

By Jennifer Vineyard (MTV.com)

While he hasn't been diagnosed with Stockholm syndrome, teen actor Anton Yelchin is singing the praises of Justin Timberlake, who plays his kidnapper in an upcoming movie.

Being Timberlake's captive was "so cool" and "so fun," Anton Yelchin said. The same could not be said, however, for the character Timberlake represents.

Alpha Dog fictionalizes a drug-dealing gang led by Jesse James Hollywood, the youngest fugitive ever wanted by the FBI. Hollywood was finally apprehended last month after more than four years on the lam.

The reputed gang leader was living under an assumed name in Brazil, while the rest of his crew was already serving time for executing the crimes Hollywood allegedly masterminded. When his real identity was revealed last month, Hollywood was deported for using a fake passport and extradited to the U.S., where he pleaded not guilty last week in Santa Barbara Superior Court to charges of kidnapping and murder.

The victim was 15-year-old Nick Markowitz, who was kidnapped, shot and killed in August 2000 by Hollywood's gang. Yelchin (House Of D, Hearts in Atlantis) portrays Zack Mazursky, a fictionalized version of Markowitz, while Timberlake plays a member of the movie version of the gang, Frankie Ballenbacher, who executes the kidnapping/murder.

"Zack is kidnapped by the gang, and it wasn't even a gang," Yelchin said. "It was just like a group of these stoners who were really stupid, you know? They were just so stupid, and they kidnapped this kid who trusted them and they killed him."

Due to Hollywood's recent surprise capture, re-shoots are a possibility, but Yelchin said he's happy Hollywood is finally being brought to justice, even if it means more work for the cast and crew.

"I don't want to sound spiteful," Yelchin said, "but I just loathe him personally. Besides the fact that he ruined this boy's family ... besides the fact that he's an idiot, he ruined his friends' lives too. Not to say that they couldn't have left, which is a big point in the movie, but he was selfish. That he was planning a murder of a kid, that says a lot about him. When he got caught, he deserved it."