Britney Spears revealed she was "glad" to have lost the lead role in The Notebook to Rachel McAdams, prompting casting director Matthew Barry to share her audition tape with The Daily Mail.
In the two-minute long video, Spears says, whilst her eyes well up with tears, "I prayed for you to die in the war, really. Well, not die. I would have felt completely horrible if you would've died. 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?"
Barry told The Daily Mail the pop star "wasn't just good, she was phenomenal."
"It was a tough decision," he continued, reflecting on Spears' audition. "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."
Since the sharing of Spears' audition, people have praised her acting but ultimately agreed that it should have been McAdams that got the part.
"Love Britney down and she looked adorable but Rachel McAdams was just born for the role", the top comment under the tape read:
"I mean [obviously] Rachel is perfect in this role, but I'm actually really impressed with [Britney's] audition", wrote another.
This sentiment was prevalent throughout the reactions to Spears' tape.
"Rachel was perfect and iconic for the role. HOWEVER... seeing this I now understand why Britney was considered for the role", one user shared.
It seems Spears agrees that role should have gone to McAdams, writing in her upcoming memoir The Woman in Me "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," she writes. "If I had, instead of working on my album 'In the Zone' I'd have been acting like a 1940s heiress day and night."
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