This post serves as a follow-up to the 2002 Reflection Post—specifically the closing section, where I mentioned needing to do additional research to better understand the timing and context surrounding On the Line, the film starring Lance Bass and Joey Fatone. That film was cited as a contributing factor in the ET Canada article, and I wanted to dig deeper into when the media first picked up the story, how the project was communicated within *NSYNC, and whether the filming schedule had any tangible impact on the recording of Celebrity.
At the time, I noted that this would require some backtracking into 2001. But as far as 2002 is concerned, the historical receipts don’t point to Lance’s outside interests as a direct cause of the group’s breakup. When I revisited Out of Sync, I hoped for a more specific timeline—dates or months indicating when the rest of the group was informed about the film. While the memoir doesn’t offer that level of detail, it does provide useful context about how On the Line fit into the group’s rhythm at the time.
“A year earlier, in the summer of 2001, prior to the recording of the Celebrity album and the PopOdyssey tour, the group had decided to take three months off. During that time Joey and I had made a movie together up in Canada called On the Line… It wasn’t that Joey and I were looking for careers as movie actors away from the band. In truth Joey and I had made On the Line only after serious talks had taken place with Tom Hanks’s production company about the possibility of making an *NSYNC feature film… but for one reason or another the rest of the guys in the band weren’t that into it. When I finally realized it wasn’t going to happen, at least not that summer, I put the deal together with Miramax for On the Line starring Joey and me.
It was a low-budget project and totally fun to make. However, halfway through it Joey and I got word from the rest of the group that they wanted to get back into the studio as soon as possible. That could have caused a bit of a problem, because we were shooting the film in Toronto. The last thing we wanted to do was split our concentration between the movie and a new album.
But our first priority was always *NSYNC, so we worked out a schedule that allowed us to continue shooting in Toronto during the week and fly down to Orlando on weekends to work with the band.” — Out of Sync, pages 84–85 (ePUB version)
While the passage doesn’t offer the precision I was hoping for, it does clarify three key points:
- Lance initially pursued a group-wide film project, and On the Line only moved forward as a two-member project after others declined.
- The filming took place during a planned three-month break in summer 2001, not during active group promotion or touring.
- When the group decided to resume studio work, Lance and Joey adjusted their schedules to prioritize *NSYNC—flying between Toronto and Orlando to accommodate both commitments.
Despite Lance’s claim that On the Line was filmed during the summer of 2001, multiple sources suggest that production began in the spring. This matters because *NSYNC resumed touring in May and remained actively on the road throughout the summer. Logistically, it would have been extremely difficult to shoot a film in Toronto while simultaneously performing in multiple cities across the U.S. on a regular basis.
Lance’s memoir doesn’t clarify when the group was informed about the film. However, in the course of my research, I found a transcript from an online web chat dated December 2000. In it, Lance tells participants that he had just launched his production company, Happy Place, and that he would be starring in a movie called On the Line. This is the earliest public mention of the film I’ve been able to locate. While I try to avoid speculation, it seems reasonable to assume that by the time Lance shared this publicly, the rest of *NSYNC had already been made aware of the project.
For the sake of parity, I also looked into the production timeline of Model Behavior, the Disney Channel movie starring Justin Timberlake. While I wasn’t able to find definitive production dates, I did come across an AOL web chat dated November 22, 1999, where the film is discussed as an upcoming project.
QUESTION: Now that Justin is doing a solo project, any other solo projects?
Chris: Jay Jay are you doing a sol low [sic] project?
Justin: Illn’t [sic] classify doing just a movie as a solo project.
Lance: I’m a new character on Seventh Heaven named Rick.
Justin: Everybody has sprouted off and become—we’ve all become businessmen in our own way. Chris has started his own clothing line as you might all know. J.C. has worked a lot in-house producing for our next album. Lance has done some TV spots, and also acting as a manager for two artists, one that he just signed to Mercury Records. And Joey is going to be writing a book with one of his friends on acting and theatre. So everybody is, you know, kind of becoming businessmen in their own way. And also at the same time, moving forward as a group and growning [sic].
I’m bringing up Model Behavior for three reasons. First, Lance references it in his memoir as a point of comparison for On the Line. Second, this chat suggests that the film was regarded as just another side project at the time, raising questions about when, exactly, the perception of outside pursuits began to shift. Justin’s own words describe multiple ventures from different members and frame them as part of the group’s growth, not its unraveling. Third, and more importantly, Model Behavior was notably absent from Barry Weiss’s comments to Leena Taylor in her 2020 ET Canada article about *NSYNC’s breakup—a detail I’ll return to later in this post.
According to Lance’s own account, his original intention was to develop a film through his production company that would involve the entire group. It was only after certain members expressed disinterest that he pivoted to On the Line as a two-person project, with Joey Fatone as the only other featured member. Lance also made it clear that this wasn’t meant to be a major career pivot for either of them—a point that directly undermines Barry Weiss’s retrospective framing in the ET Canada article, even though Lance’s comments were recorded more than a decade earlier.
Justin’s remarks from 1999 further challenge Barry’s narrative. In that public AOL chat, he described various side projects from multiple members and framed them as part of the group’s progress, not as threats to its unity. Side ventures weren’t taboo, they were normalized.
Even without Lance explicitly stating that On the Line wasn’t a strategic breakaway, the context makes it clear. The strongest evidence lies in how Lance and Joey responded when the group decided to resume recording. Rather than prioritizing the film or delaying the album, they split their time, filming in Toronto during the week and flying to Orlando on weekends to work with the band. That kind of logistical compromise doesn’t suggest a desire to leave the group. It suggests a commitment to staying in it.
So while there are still unanswered questions about when and how On the Line was first brought to the group’s attention, there’s enough relevant insight to critically examine Barry Weiss’s claims about the film’s role in *NSYNC’s breakup. Weiss described the movie as part of a “strategic error” on the group’s part—though it’s unclear how a decision made by Lance and Joey became a reflection of the entire band making an error.
Specifically, Weiss was quoted as saying:
“…it created a space of time which gave Justin the chance to really think about what he wanted to do with his life and his ultimate conclusion was that he wanted to go solo. I strongly believe had that movie not happened, there would’ve been at least one, if not two, more *NSYNC albums.”
Given that Justin had already filmed and released Model Behavior the year prior, it’s unclear why On the Line was later framed as a more consequential misstep. Lance and Joey’s participation in On the Line wasn’t unprecedented, it wasn’t the first film project involving a member of *NSYNC outside the group, and it certainly wasn’t the only side venture active between 2000 and 2001.
I mention Model Behavior because Lance references it in his memoir, but it’s worth noting that Barry Weiss didn’t mention it at all in the ET Canada article. That omission feels uneven. On the Line wasn’t the first or only external project, and it wasn’t the only one that didn’t include all five members. JC Chasez had been writing, composing, and producing for Wild Orchid and Boyz N Girlz United throughout 2000 – work that didn’t directly support *NSYNC but was still happening alongside the No Strings Attached era. Chris Kirkpatrick founded FuMan Skeeto in 1999 and in 2001 he was still committed to his brand even while maintaining his group obligations. These ventures weren’t new, and they weren’t disruptive. Some began before the group signed with Jive Records, but they continued after the new contract was finalized. What Justin’s comments in the 1999 AOL chat make clear is that these projects were part of the group’s accepted rhythm of individual pursuits coexisting along with collective momentum. So why was On the Line singled out?
Unless something was omitted from Weiss’s commentary, it’s unclear why On the Line was treated as an inflection point while other side projects were ignored. This isn’t about whataboutism—it’s about context. Barry may have chosen to highlight one project, but the historical receipts show that multiple ventures were happening alongside and outside the sphere of *NSYNC. What’s also missing is any acknowledgment of his own role in the group’s eventual breakup. He offers his opinion from a so-called “bird’s eye view,” but doesn’t address the power he held as president of Jive Records. Members of the group may have had private conversations or floated ideas internally, but there’s a long distance between thinking about something and making it happen—and Weiss was in a position to shape what did or didn’t move forward.
Weiss claims that On the Line gave Justin time to reflect and he decided to go solo. But that doesn’t explain how the decision became an executed plan. It doesn’t address the cooperation and support Justin needed from Jive Records to bring his decision to fruition, and anything he got from Jive would have required Weiss’ approval.
It’s telling that Barry Weiss’s role at Jive Records is mentioned in the ET Canada article, but it’s noticeably understated in relation to what he claims was the kickoff of *NSYNC’s dissolution. While it’s true he couldn’t have forced the group to stay together, the structural maneuvers that enabled a solo album and full promotional rollout for Justin Timberlake happened on his watch and with his consent. Likewise, the two-year stretch where *NSYNC remained in a kind of suspended animation also unfolded under his leadership.
While the article seems to suggest that Lance Bass’s solo projects played a significant role in the group’s breakup, Weiss’s specific comments don’t offer much clarity about the significance of his own role. He mentions On the Line as a turning point but doesn’t explain why that particular project mattered more than others. And he doesn’t address how the film influenced his own decisions as president of the label—especially when it came to supporting Justin’s solo career.
That part of the story feels vague, and it’s hard to tell whether that’s just how the conversation went when Leena Taylor interviewed him, or whether certain details were left out. Either way, the emphasis on On the Line feels uneven, especially considering how many other side projects were happening at the time. And when you look at who had the power to greenlight solo efforts, manage communication, and shape the group’s future, it’s worth asking why those parts of the story weren’t explored more directly.
Even though the passage from Out of Sync wasn’t as detailed as I’d hoped, it ended up pointing me toward something more helpful: two archived web chat transcripts, one from December 2000 and another from November 1999. The December chat is most relevant to the On the Line thread of this reflection, since it shows the group already deep into the promotional cycle for No Strings Attached while Lance and Joey were juggling filming commitments. But because Lance referenced Model Behavior in his memoir, I decided to look into that project as well—for the sake of equanimity. That search led me to the earlier AOL chat from 1999.
While that transcript didn’t offer the production dates I was hoping for, it did help narrow the window for when Model Behavior was likely filmed. More importantly, it offered a snapshot of how the group publicly talked about their side projects at the time. Justin downplayed his movie role as a solo venture, and then casually listed what each member was working on—fashion, production, acting, artist management. It wasn’t just On the Line versus Model Behavior. It was a broader constellation of pursuits, with each member extending outward from the group in different directions. And that wasn’t seen as a threat. It was framed as growth.
That context makes Barry Weiss’s framing in the ET Canada article feel even more uneven. Model Behavior is never mentioned, and On the Line is treated as a strategic misstep—despite the fact that it only happened after Lance tried (and failed) to get the whole group on board for a different film project. Reading that section of Out of Sync made me go back to the article with fresh eyes, and it raised a few questions that still don’t have clear answers.
For example: what’s the actual connection between Lance working on a movie that the rest of the group was aware of (and didn’t seem interested in) and Justin deciding to go solo? And how does that decision, which had long-term consequences for *NSYNC, get traced back to On the Line rather than to the solo rollout that Barry Weiss himself helped to greenlight?
Weiss doesn’t explain how Lance’s film influenced his own actions as president of the label, or why On the Line mattered more than other side projects that were happening at the time. If anything, the solo album and promotional push for Justin had a much bigger impact on the group’s future than Lance’s movie ever did. So it’s worth asking: why wasn’t the label’s role in shaping Justin’s solo trajectory examined more directly? And why was On the Line seen as a rupture when, in 1999, Justin himself described side projects as part of the group’s growth?
The framing in the ET Canada article reflects Barry Weiss’s perspective, likely shaped by his bird’s-eye view as a label executive. But when placed alongside the group’s own comments from 1999 and the timeline of events that followed, his implication—that On the Line was a strategic error with lasting consequences—doesn’t seem fully supported by the historical record. It raises questions about why Lance’s film project was singled out, while other side ventures, including the label-backed rollout of Justin’s solo career, were left unexamined. That selective framing makes the treatment of Lance’s side projects in the article feel uneven—and worth a closer look.
To tie this post back to my original 2002 reflection: just as Lance’s astronaut training and his desire to go into space didn’t seem to have a meaningful impact on the group’s ability to reunite, his decision to film On the Line doesn’t appear to have had a significant impact either. The ET Canada article points to both as touch points, but it doesn’t draw any explicit or direct links between those projects and the decisions made by others—especially the ones that ultimately shaped *NSYNC’s future.
There’s no clear connection between Lance’s film and Justin’s decision to go solo, and no explanation of how that film influenced Barry Weiss’s actions as president of Jive Records. The relationship between Lance’s creative choices and the structural decisions made by people outside of him isn’t clarified in the article and doesn’t seem to be supported by the historical record either. In fact, that AOL chat from 1999 shows Justin describing side projects from every member, including his own, as part of the group’s growth. That context makes Weiss’ framing of On the Line as a rupture feel even more imbalanced since it seemed par for the course for projects outside of *NSYNC.
In the end, the connections suggested in the article feel implied rather than substantiated. I’m still open to revisiting this if new sources or firsthand accounts come to light, because this is an ongoing process and I know the full picture may take time to emerge. But based on the research I’ve done so far, the idea that Lance’s solo projects were the driving force behind *NSYNC’s breakup doesn’t seem to have any historical support.
Riddle On Her Mind 