‘Crossroads’ Director Reveals Britney Spears WANTED Controversial Sex Scene

In 2002, pop star Britney Spears almost transitioned into acting with the movie “Crossroads.”

The movie stars the Princess of Pop, Zoe Saldaña, and Taryn Manning as three friends who take a road trip across the country to repair their friendship after years of estrangement. Along the way, Britney’s character, Lucy, reconnects with Ben (Anson Mount) for a passionate night together.

On Friday, “Crossroads” director Tamra Davis told Entertainment Weekly that she and writer Shonda Rhimes had to fight to keep the controversial sex scene in the movie. “We definitely had to fight for some stuff,” Davis said, recalling that Britney wanted to keep the sex scene in the movie. “She wanted to [challenge] that image that she’s this forever virgin girl,” Davis said of Britney’s decision.

Davis said that the sex scene was done “tastefully,” noting that “a kid would not know the heck is going on.” Ultimately, though, the scene was kept in the movie. “That was a fight I’m happy we won,” Davis added.

Britney Spears dated Justin Timberlake from 1999 to 2002, including during the time that she filmed “Crossroads.” In 2003, a year after their breakup, Britney told W Magazine that she had slept with only “one person my whole life,” implying that it was the “Cry Me A River” singer.

However, in her memoir, “The Woman In Me,” Britney says that she actually lost her virginity to a childhood best friend of her brother, Bryan Spears. That being said, it didn’t mean that Britney and Justin weren’t intimate together, as Davis recalled seeing Justin staying in Britney’s hotel room while they were filming “Crossroads.”

“I would have to go knock on her hotel room door in the morning sometimes and be like, ‘OK, Britney, time to go,’ and Justin would be there,” Davis told the outlet. “It was during the height of, ‘Is Britney a virgin?’ I wasn’t even going to ask! Even waking her up in the hotel room, I was like, whatever is going on in your private life, that’s private.”

Davis said that she thought Britney and Justin were the “cutest couple” at the time and even worked to incorporate an NSYNC reference into the film. Lucy and her friends sang the band’s “Bye Bye Bye” while Ben napped in the back seat of the car.

“The scene encapsulated what was going on with the music scene at that time,” Davis explained. “It was this mixture of what music [Ben] wanted to listen to, which was Nirvana and alt-grunge, versus what the girls wanted to listen to, which was ‘NSync and Backstreet Boys and boy bands. We loved that contrast of radio. I don’t know if it was specifically in the script. I think up to the last minute, we didn’t know if we would have the rights because it was a gigantic song.”

Although many fans know that Britney and Justin first met on the set of “The Mickey Mouse Club,” Britney also appeared on the show alongside actor Ryan Gosling. She almost starred beside him once again on the set of “The Notebook.” In her memoir, the Princess of Pop revealed that the casting call came down to her and Rachel McAdams.

In an excerpt from her memoir released by People magazine, Britney admitted, “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.”

The "Oops!... I Did It Again" singer explained that she learned on the set of “Crossroads” that acting just wasn’t for her. “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,” Britney wrote in her memoir. “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,” she continued.

“That was pretty much the beginning and end of my acting career, and I was relieved,” she wrote. “I imagine there are people in the acting field who have dealt with something like that, where they had trouble separating themselves from a character.”

“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,” she added, although fans will get to watch her perform on stage again in a global fan event that will bring “Crossroads” back to theaters on October 23 and October 25.

Britney Spears' memoir "The Woman In Me" is scheduled for release on Tuesday, October 24, 2023.