See Britney Spears Audition For The Biggest Romantic Movie Of The 2000s
For young romantics, few films had quite as much of an impact as the 2004 movie The Notebook starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. The two of them had such sizzling onscreen chemistry together that it’s difficult for most fans to imagine anyone else getting the part, but it turns out the last person you might expect nearly played McAdams’ part in the movie. Below, you can watch Britney Spears’ surprisingly awesome audition to star as the female lead in The Notebook.
According to the Britney Spears fan account that posted the video, the singer’s audition for The Notebook was leaked online rather than released by Spears or by New Line Cinema. Fans still flocked to check out the tape, and there’s a good reason for that.
Scarlett Johansson auditioned for the part, as did Claire Danes, Kate Bosworth, Amy Adams, Jamie King and Mandy Moore.
In addition to the novelty value of seeing Spears (a musical legend) auditioning for a film role, it’s been common knowledge that she auditioned for Allie Calhoun (the part eventually played by Rachel McAdams) for many years. Understandably, fans of both Britney Spears and The Notebook couldn’t help but wonder what it would look like if someone else played McAdams in this iconic role.
Even though the Britney Spears audition clip is only 30 seconds, it helps to answer the question of what she would have been like if she played Allie. The hype for this has been high for a while now because of the film’s director. According to the Daily Mail, The Notebook director Matthew Barry had previously stated “Britney wasn’t just good – she was phenomenal,” and “our jaws were on the floor” because “she brought her A-game that day.”
Video has leaked of Britney Spears’ audition for the role of Allie in The Notebook.
When the director of the film goes out of his way to hype up how close Britney Spears came to landing this role in The Notebook, fans were understandably eager to check this performance out for themselves.
While Britney Spears obviously didn’t get the role, Matthew Barry also pointed out that she came closer to starring in the movie than many other big names who auditioned. For example, future Marvel star Scarlett Johansson auditioned for the part, as did Claire Danes, Kate Bosworth, Amy Adams, Jamie King and Mandy Moore.
But in the director’s words, “Britney beat out all of them” with The Notebook audition. While her fans are very sad Britney Spears didn’t land the coveted role, the singer is not, writing in her memoir that she might have become a diva and “instead of working on my album In the Zone, I’d have been acting like a 1940s heiress day and night.’
“Britney wasn’t just good – she was phenomenal.”
The Notebook director Matthew Barry
The leaking of this audition tape for The Notebook may end up inadvertently serving as an advertisement for Britney Spears’ memoir The Woman in Me because it helps remind the world that the singer is much more than a pretty face with a great voice.
Considering her highly public battles to retain her mental health and her equally public battles against the conservatorship that took control of her life, it’s clear that Spears has one hell of a story to tell. Until the memoir gets delivered, we’ll just be over here quietly shipping her and Ryan Gosling for the rest of the day.
