In her new memoir, The Woman In Me, Britney Spears reveals why she quit acting after her 2002 film, Crossroads: “I was someone else for the months while I filmed,” she wrote. The Princess of Pop explained that Method acting got a little too real for her, and that she couldn’t “separate” herself from Lucy, the character she played.
Zoe Saldaña, Spears’ costar in Crossroads, said in an interview with Gay Times that Britney was “just a regular girl,” even amid her skyrocketing fame in the music industry. But Britney recalls a different reality: “I ended up walking differently, carrying myself differently, talking differently,” she wrote in The Woman In Me. Keep reading to find out how acting affected the singer, and why she left it for good.
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Britney Spears took Method acting a little too seriously
After finding huge success with her first two albums, …Baby One More Time (1999) and Oops!...I Did It Again (2000), Britney tried her luck with acting, scoring a starring role in Crossroads. But the actress says "the experience wasn't easy for me." The Hollywood starlet adopted the Method acting strategy for getting into character, but in her memoir, Britney wrote "I didn’t know how to break out of my character. I really became this other person."
This phenomena isn't unheard of—Austin Butler reportedly had this same issue while filming the award-winning biopic Elvis. But sadly, it was enough for Britney to close the door on acting, for good. "Living that way, being half yourself and half a fictional character, is messed up," she says. "After a while you don’t know what’s real anymore."
The mother-of-two did have the chance to act again, as the starring role for Allie Hamilton in The Notebook came down to her and Rachel McAdams. "Even though it would have been fun to reconnect with Ryan Gosling after our time on the Mickey Mouse Club," the singer said, speaking of the kids' show where she and other stars including Justin Timberlake met for the first time. "I'm glad I didn't do it."
Crossroads re-released to promote The Woman In Me
Crossroads is a coming-of-age tale about three best friends—played by Britney, Zoe Saldaña, and Taryn Manning—on a cross-country road trip. The film was re-released by Trafalgar Releasing, Sony Music Entertainment, and RCA Records as a global fan event on Oct. 23rd and Oct. 25th, a genius promotional move that the singer was actually behind.
Tamra David, the director of Crossroads, revealed to Vanity Fair earlier this month Britney was the mastermind behind the re-release. "I received a call from Sony. After all these years of my attempts and my lawyer's efforts, it was Britney who called to have it re-released because she wanted it to accompany her book launch," the director said. She added that Paramount is also "planning to make a streaming deal," so if you missed the event in theaters, there's still a chance to watch the film.
Those who did manage to score tickets to the event had a wonderful time. "The @BritneySpears Global Fan Event For Crossroads Made My Entire Year," one fan who attended the event wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Still can't get over that I got to watch this iconic movie in theaters," another tweeted, adding a loved up smiling emoji. We are absolutely thrilled to be hearing Britney's side of every story in her memoir, The Woman In Me, and can’t wait to stream Crossroads, too!
