‘Crossroads’ director Tamra Davis reveals how Britney Spears helped get the film rereleased

Director Tamra Davis talks with Yahoo Entertainment’s Kevin Polowy about making the Britney Spears movie “Crossroads,” working with the pop star to develop her acting and how Spears helped get the film rereleased.

Video Transcript

KEVIN POLOWY: First, I wanted to follow up because last time we talked, you discussed how you realized you were being blocked by Britney's conservatorship-- like, not by Britney herself-- when you were trying to reach out. This was a year ago. You said you were talking about how much you'd still like to reconnect with her. Have you have you tried to check in with her? Have you tried to get in touch with her since?

TAMRA DAVIS: Like kind of loosely. Like I know her manager has been involved with the rerelease, and so I've been in contact with her manager. Yeah. And so I kind of also-- it's one of those things, at least now, I really respect her privacy or whatever she's going through, but she knows that I've been here, and that it was Britney that called and got the film out of Paramount to Sony so that it could be released. It was a really important film.

And it was also rare that-- yeah, that girls were making films about girls for girls by girls. That wasn't happening in the '90s, and it's happening now finally. Like, only in the last, like, few years are we starting to really see what a female gaze and what women-- the stories women tell.

KEVIN POLOWY: I imagine you've probably seen the excerpt released from her book today where she talks about, like, the struggle she had on set going method and sort of separating herself from the character. Did you have any idea she was struggling with that at the time?

TAMRA DAVIS: No, it's so funny because, you know, A, you never know what's going on inside somebody's head during the experience. So I read that today, and I was like, whoa. That's so interesting because for me, it was like such an interesting journey with her to get her to do this, to act, to be this character. And I had to break her down to remove Britney the star to make her Lucy the character.

And so in a weird way, I guess she's describing method acting, which she-- like, I worked very closely with the acting coach with her and myself to just really try to make sure that her acting was comparable to Zoe and Taryn and Anson, who are incredibly talented actors, so that she didn't come in and give a line like how you would deliver it if you were on a "Mickey Mouse Club." You know, like, she had to really go deep and find this character.

But I think there was comfort in that character as well because she was just one of the girls finally. You know, she was-- she was a person that-- she was part of an ensemble, and she was part of this group of people where you're equal. She was not a slack-- a slacker. She was really-- and Justin was like that too. Man, the two of them were like this powerhouse couple of professionalism, of, like, we are determined to make it, and it's not just because of a fluke. It's because we worked our asses off to get here.

KEVIN POLOWY: Britney said that she had an abortion during her relationship with Justin and that he, I guess to paraphrase, he didn't want to keep the baby, and I think she has regrets about it. So it's pretty--

TAMRA DAVIS: Woo.

KEVIN POLOWY: --sad to read about. Yeah.

TAMRA DAVIS: Wow. I wonder when she was pregnant, like, when it happened. I guess after the movie or probably not during the movie. Wow. That's so crazy. So sorry.

I mean, you know, that's what you write a memoir about is you go through your life, and you kind of, like, think about these things that happened to you and your regrets and those things. And it's important for her to be able to tell her truth, you know? And at least now I know that she's in control of that.

And if she's listening, of course I'd love to say hi. But she knows I'm there for her.

KEVIN POLOWY: Yeah.