Britney Spears 'Blew Away' 'The Notebook' Producers With Emotional Audition Tape

Pop star Britney Spears almost got a role in "The Notebook" opposite her "The Mickey Mouse Club" costar Ryan Gosling.

After the pop star landed a starring role in the 2002 film "Crossroads," she was almost cast in "The Notebook" as his love interest. Although she was ultimately glad that she didn't get the role, it still looks like she brought her A-game to the audition.

Casting director Matthew Barry has hinted for years that Britney Spears submitted an audition tape for "The Notebook" and now he has finally handed it over to the Daily Mail for viewing just in time for her memoir, "The Woman In Me," to hit bookshelves everywhere. At the time, Britney was only 21 when she did a screen test with the "Barbie" actor.

Many other female celebrities tried out for the role, including Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel, and Claire Danes. However, the role eventually went to Rachel McAdams. In a strange twist of fate, Jessica Biel, who did not get the role, went on to marry Britney Spears' ex, Justin Timberlake, in 2012 and the two now share two children together.

During Britney's two-and-a-half-minute-long audition, she breaks down in tears in front of Gosling while they rehearse a scene together. Britney, wearing a white lace top, began the scene by saying, "I'm not staying. I tried to call you to tell you that I wasn't going to stay, but nobody answered the phone." Britney begins to get more and more emotional as the scene continues, beginning to cry real tears.

"Noah, you can’t marry two people. And I’m marrying Lon, so I should go, okay?" she continues. "I prayed for you to die in the war, really. Well, not die. I would have felt completely horrible if you would die. But I kinda didn’t want you to be alive anymore because I couldn’t bear the thought of you being with somebody else, or of us never seeing each other again. So I gotta go, okay?"

Matthew Barry told the outlet that Britney's performance "blew away" the movie producers; however, Rachel McAdams gave a screen test that ultimately dazzled producers and won her the role. That being said, Britney still left a strong impression on Barry who noted that the pop star "wasn't just good" but "phenomenal." Even though the audition took place in a Los Angeles studio on August 18, 2002, he can still remember it vividly, saying, "It was a tough decision. Britney blew us all away. Our jaws were on the floor. I was blown away. Absolutely blown away. She brought her A-game that day."

"The Notebook" is based on the 1996 novel written by Nicholas Sparks and tells the story of a girl named Allie and a boy named Noah who fall in love in the 1940s before her disapproving family tears them apart. The two reunite years later, when Allie is engaged to a wealthy businessman named Lon Hammond Jr. played by James Marsden. All of the actresses who auditioned for the role were presented with the same scene - where Noah pressures Allie into deciding which man she really wants to be with.

"Britney beat out several of the top female actresses at the time. Scarlett Johansson, Claire Danes, Kate Bosworth, Amy Adams, Jamie King, and Mandy Moore auditioned for this role. Britney beat out all of them. Everybody who was anybody that year wanted this part," Barry recalled, noting that Jessica Biel was filming "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" at the time and taped the audition in her trailer between shots.

Fans can watch the audition tape on the Daily Mail website.

In an excerpt from her memoir, "The Woman In Me," released by People magazine, the "Toxic" singer 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.”

In another part of her memoir, she recalled how she became "messed up" during her experience with method acting on the set of her 2002 film "Crossroads," which is appearing in theaters on October 23 and October 25 for a two-day fan event.

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