Britney Spears’ The Notebook Audition Tape Released After Two Decades

21 years after it was filmed, Britney Spears’ audition for The Notebook is now available to watch online. And, while Spears’ acting career never really went beyond Crossroads, it’s really, really good.

The Notebook, set mostly in the 1940s, is the story of Noah and Allie, who fall for each other but have to deal with heiress Allie’s parents objecting to the match. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams took the lead roles and the movie went on to make nearly $120m.

However, alongside Ashley Judd, Reese Witherspoon and Jessica Biel, Britney Spears was considered for the role and went so far as to audition on camera, opposite Ryan Gosling. The tape was retained by casting director Matthew Barry and it’s now been posted online by British newspaper The Daily Mail.

The 2002 tape apparently comes courtesy of Barry who, in the article, explains that “Britney wasn’t just good – she was phenomenal.” She was in the running to get the role, having beaten out Biel, Judd and Witherspoon.

You can watch the tape below, which has Spears tearfully talking about how she sort-of wishes Gosling’s character was dead. Okay, that sounds terrible but it makes sense in context.

And… it’s pretty amazing. Spears knocks it out of the park, to the point where we could absolutely see her in the role.

However, Rachel McAdams happened, delivering an audition that ultimately secured her the role, though Barry comments that it was a tough choice.

Why has this tape surfaced now? Spears’ autobiography, The Woman in Me, is out tomorrow and it seems likely this was released to help promote the book. The Mail doesn’t say as much, but it would be one hell of a coincidence if it wasn’t.

Spears also acted in the poorly-received Crossroads and, according to her book, that experience killed her interest in acting.

Though it wasn’t so much the movie’s reception it was that, as she puts it, “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.”

You know, there’s probably a movie in that.