Several years ago, Timberlake had signed on to star in the film version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning stage musical, which was then to be directed by Spike Lee.

"Unfortunately the project did not materialize, and he has had no discussions or involvement with the new production team nor director Chris Columbus," according to a statement released last month.

Timberlake recently completed his first motion picture feature, "Edison," co-starring Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman and LL Cool J, directed by David Burke.

He is currently considering his next feature film "from among hundreds of scripts," his publicist said.

On June 1, Playbill On-Line cited a Chicago Sun-Times report that Timberlake was interested in the "Rent" movie that Columbus ("Home Alone" and the first two "Harry Potter" movies) is set to write and direct. In The Sun Times' Glare column, Columbus was quoted saying Timberlake was interested. Filming may begin as early as this fall. The Jonatahan Larson musical, about artists and outsiders in the East Village in the late 1990s, is still running at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre. The show was inspired by Puccini's La Bohème. It snagged the 1996 Tony Award for Best Musical, but Larson did not live to see the international glory his show would earn. He died of an undiagnosed heart ailment in the days leading to Rent's Off-Broadway premiere.