Before Rachel McAdams made The Notebook the preeminent film of the cinematic romance genre with Ryan Gosling, Britney Spears was a top contender for the leading-lady role. Now, decades after the pop star first read the script, we can finally watch her full audition tape.
The Daily Mail exclusively shared the audition footage, which shows a then 21-year-old Spears completing a screen test as Allie opposite Gosling’s Noah back in 2002. Casting director Matthew Barry reportedly told the outlet that Spears was a front-runner for the role, edging out other now A-listers like Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Claire Danes, and Jessica Biel.
The tape shows Spears, dressed in a lacy white top and a pearl choker necklace, acting out a scene in which Allie tells Noah that she’s planning on going forward with her wedding plans, despite still being in love with him.
“Look, Noah, I can’t be here. Not the way I feel about you—it’s not fair to Lon,” Spears says in character.
The singer begins to visibly break down into tears as the audition progresses. “I prayed for you to die in the war. Really,” she emotionally says. “I would have felt completely horrible if you would have died, but I just—I kinda didn’t want you to be alive anymore because I couldn’t bear the thought of you being with someone else or …”
The Woman in Me, by Britney Spears
“Britney wasn’t just good—she was phenomenal,” Barry recalled to the Mail. “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 casting team narrowed down their choices to Spears and the then relatively unknown McAdams, with the latter ultimately nabbing the part. Spears, whose major acting role was starring in the 2002 dramedy Crossroads, reflected on losing out on The Notebook in her new memoir, The Woman in Me.
“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,” she wrote. “If I had, instead of working on my album In the Zone, I’d have been acting like a 1940s heiress day and night.”
As an associate editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com, Chelsey keeps a finger on the pulse on all things celeb news. She also writes on social movements, connecting with activists leading the fight on workers' rights, climate justice, and more. Offline, she’s probably spending too much time on TikTok, rewatching Emma (the 2020 version, of course), or buying yet another corset.
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