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Britney Spears’ memoir, The Woman in Me has some big reveals in it, and it’s giving us all an inside look into the pop star’s highly publicized life. Along with learning about her music career, turbulent relationships and other topics, she’s also giving us stories about her time as an actress. The most recent revelation from the book came as the singer explained how she actually auditioned to play Allie in The Notebook. However, instead of being bummed she lost the role to Rachel McAdams, she was happy.
This isn’t the first story we’ve heard about an actor almost landing a role in The Notebook. At one point, there were talks about George Clooney starring in the romance, and at another, Jessica Simpson turned down the gig to play Allie. It turns out, Spears was also considered for the role, and she almost got it. However, Rachel McAdams landed it instead, but the pop star was “relieved” as she wrote in an excerpt of her book (via People):
That was pretty much the beginning and end of my acting career, and I was relieved. 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. If I had, instead of working on my album In the Zone I’d have been acting like a 1940s heiress day and night.
Spears was part of the Mickey Mouse Club when she was 11, and she worked with celebrities like Christina Aguilera, Keri Russell, Tony Lucca, Justin Timberlake, and The Notebook’s co-lead Ryan Gosling. While she was happy she didn’t get the role of Allie, as she noted above, it would have been fun to see her collaborate with the Barbie star again.
Ultimately, her reaction was rooted in her experience on 2002’s Crossroads. She explained in the excerpt that the experience “wasn’t easy,” and she had trouble separating herself from her character. She said:
The experience wasn’t easy for me. My problem wasn’t with anyone involved in the production but with what acting did to my mind. 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.
She continued saying that while making the movie she noticed she was “walking differently, carrying myself differently, talking differently.” Spears wrote:
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.
So, as she considered playing Allie in The Notebook, she quickly realized she didn’t want to immerse herself in a character again, she was afraid she’d get lost. The “Toxic” singer explained:
I hope I never get close to that occupational hazard again. 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.
It totally makes sense why Britney Spears decided to leave acting behind. However, there is no denying that it would have been fun to see her in the romance that’s considered one of the best films of the 2000s. Although, it’s also really hard to imagine anyone other than Rachel McAdams in what became one of her breakout roles.
While we won’t be seeing Spears on the 2023 movie schedule, McAdams and Gosling are both on it, as the Allie actress starred in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and the Noah actor rocked the screen as Ken in Barbie. However, the pop star is still making a big impact on pop culture as she is coming back into the spotlight with her “brutally honest” memoir The Woman in Me, which will hit bookshelves on October 24.