Britney Spears' 'Breathtaking' Audition for 'The Notebook' Resurfaces
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Imagine a world where Britney Spears starred as Allie Hamilton in The Notebook instead of Rachel McAdams.
Well, you don’t have to imagine it anymore because the footage of the pop star’s audition is making the rounds online.
Casting director Matthew Barry not only shared Spears’ screen test with The Daily Mail, but he called her performance “phenomenal.”
The two-and-a-half minute clip finds Spears donning a crochet top as she gears up to deliver Allie’s gut-wrenching monologue to Ryan Gosling, who played Noah and appeared off-camera during the read.
In the pivotal scene where Allie tells Noah she’s going to marry another man, Spears, in character, states, “I’m not staying. I tried to call you to tell you that I wasn’t going to stay – but nobody answered the phone…Noah, you can’t marry two people. And I’m marrying Lon, so I should go, okay?”
As the scene builds, Spears breaks into tears as she delivers the lines, "I prayed for you to die in the war, really. Well, not die. I would have felt completely horrible if you would die. But I kinda didn’t want you to be alive anymore because I couldn't bear the thought of you being with somebody else, or of us never seeing each other again. So I gotta go, OK?"
The clip doesn’t show anyone’s reaction, however, Barry recalled that everyone was floored by the then-21-year-old’s performance.
The “Toxic” singer, whose only other acting role was in the 2002 film Crossroads, beat out the likes of Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel, Mandy Moore, Kate Bosworth, Claire Danes and Amy Adams.
“Britney beat out all of them. Everybody who was anybody that year wanted this part,” Barry explained.
McAdams—who was a then-unknown actress as Mean Girls premiered only two months prior to The Notebook in 2004—ended up nabbing the role.
Fans were equally as impressed, with one writing, “I got chills watching that video. I can see why she almost got the part,” as another called it a “breathtaking” audition.
In her upcoming memoir, “The Woman in Me,” Spears reflects on the audition, explaining that she was not angry about losing out on the role.
“Even though it would have been fun to reconnect with Ryan Gosling after our time on the ‘Mickey Mouse Club,’ I’m glad I didn’t do it,” the 41-year-old writes in an excerpt from the memoir.
“If I had, instead of working on my album ‘In the Zone’ I’d have been acting like a 1940s heiress day and night,” she added referring to the difficulties of getting into character for her previous movie.
“My problem wasn’t with anyone involved in the production but with what acting did to my mind,” she explained, adding,. “I think I started Method acting — only I didn’t know how to break out of my character. I really became this other person. Some people do Method acting, but they’re usually aware of the fact that they’re doing it. But I didn’t have any separation at all. I ended up walking differently, carrying myself differently, talking differently. I was someone else for months while I filmed ‘Crossroads.’ Still to this day, I bet the girls I shot that movie with think, She’s a little…quirky. If they thought that, they were right.”
The Woman in Me will be released on Oct. 24, 2023.
Next, The Biggest Bombshells From Britney Spears' Memoir 'The Woman In Me'
