Britney Spears’ memoir, The Woman in Me, is set to drop tomorrow, and arriving with it is a slew of Britney-related headlines, stories, and remembrances, including a video from the pop star’s past that has finally surfaced from the vaults: her 2002 audition tape for The Notebook.
For years, the story has circulated that Spears was a frontrunner for the leading role that went to Rachel McAdams, but now, The Daily Mail has finally shared the screen test that was recorded with the film’s leading man, Ryan Gosling. Breaking down in tears as she recites a heart-wrenching monologue, Spears really does deliver an emotional performance, batting her eyes around as if nervously avoiding eye contact, and even sprinkling in a touch of her Southern drawl. Watch the clip below.
Evidently, the film’s casting director, Matthew Barry (who provided The Daily Mail with the coveted audition tape), felt that Spears was a wonder, beating out actors such as Claire Danes, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Jessica Biel, and more. Ultimately, the filmmakers went with McAdams, but according to Spears in her new book, she’s glad she didn’t get the part.
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“The Notebook casting came down to me and Rachel McAdams, and 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,” she wrote in 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.”
Continuing, Spears explained that the process of getting into character for a performance took a toll on her psyche. “I hope I never get close to that occupational hazard again,” she wrote. “Living that way, being half yourself and half a fictional character, is messed up. After a while you don’t know what’s real anymore.”
Meanwhile, all sorts of stories from Spears’ past are coming to the surface thanks to The Woman in Me. Last week, it was revealed that the singer’s then-boyfriend Justin Timberlake got her pregnant, but they decided to have an abortion. Elsewhere, she also described feeling “infantilized” by her controversial conservatorship.
All of this, though, is “in the past” for Spears, who shared on social media that she didn’t aim to “offend anyone” with the tell-all book. According to Spears, she has “moved on and it’s a beautiful clean slate from here!!!” Order The Woman in Me here.
