Britney Spears got here extremely near snagging the leading role within the movie “The Notebook.”
Hollywood casting director Matthew Barry told the Day by day Mail that the then 21-year-old pop star’s 2002 audition for the role of Allie “blew us all away” — and that she very nearly got the part within the 2004 film.
A newly released video of her audition shows Spears breaking down in tears.
“Our jaws were on the ground,” Barry said. “I used to be blown away. Absolutely blown away. She brought her A-game that day.”
The role of the Forties heiress who falls in love with Ryan Gosling’s Noah ultimately went to Rachel McAdams.
Fans have long known that Spears, now 41, filmed a screen test for the romantic drama, based on Nicholas Sparks’ 1996 novel.
But Barry went even further to say that the “Toxic” singer, whose largest screen role has been within the film “Crossroads,” was in the highest tier of candidates, beating out actresses akin to Scarlett Johansson, Claire Danes, Kate Bosworth, Amy Adams, Jaime King and Mandy Moore.
The casting director also unveiled her two-decade-old emotional audition tape, which Spears buffs have been begging to look at for years, during which she emotionally performs Allie’s “I prayed so that you can die within the war” monologue. Within the clip, the young actress begins to sob.
“Britney wasn’t just good — she was phenomenal,” Barry told the Mail.
Still, in her upcoming memoir “The Woman In Me,” out Oct. 24, Spears said she doesn’t regret losing the coveted role to McAdams.
“‘The Notebook’ casting got here all the way down to me and Rachel McAdams,” Spears wrote. “And although it might have been fun to reconnect with Ryan Gosling after our time on ‘The Mickey Mouse Club,’ I’m glad I didn’t do it.”
As for “Crossroads,” Spears revealed that method acting took over while she was on set.
“My problem wasn’t with anyone involved within the production but with what acting did to my mind. I feel I began method acting — only I didn’t know the way to break out of my character,” she explained in an excerpt obtained by People last week.
“I actually became this other person. Some people do method acting, but they’re normally aware of the incontrovertible fact that they’re doing it. But I didn’t have any separation in any respect. I ended up walking in another way, carrying myself in another way, talking in another way,” she continued. “I used to be another person for months while I filmed ‘Crossroads.’ Still to at the present time, I bet the ladies I shot that movie with think, She’s just a little … quirky. In the event that they thought that, they were right.”
