Crossroads Director Reacts To Britney Spears’ Difficult Method Acting Experience: ‘I’m Shocked’
Britney Spears’ memoir, The Woman in Me, is full of revelations and bombshells about her career and personal life. Recently, the singer made waves when she revealed she had an abortion during her relationship with Justin Timberlake, who was allegedly concerned about the book’s release. Spears has also candidly spoken about growing up in the entertainment industry. Along those lines, another excerpt that’s gone viral is about her brief, but impactful, time working as an actor in the film Crossroads. Now, following the “Circus” singer’s explanation of the difficult experience she had with Method acting amid production, the director has responded.
What Britney Spears Wrote About Method Acting And Crossroads
In the excerpt of The Woman in Me that was released via People, the songstress opened up about the struggle of working on Crossroads. She made it clear that she had no issues with any of the film’s cast and crew, but that the challenges came from her Method acting. She explained:
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. 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.
She went on to say that she found herself “walking differently, carrying myself differently, talking differently,” and noted that she felt like a totally different person while they made the movie. Near the end of the excerpt, the “Toxic” singer added:
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.
Her challenging experience working on the 2002 road film is a major reason why she was happy she didn’t land a lead role in The Notebook. It’s possible that it’s also why she hasn’t acted – outside of a few cameos – since.
After Britney Spears’ revelations about her on-set experience went viral, the director of Crossroads, Tamra Davis, shared some honest thoughts. The filmmaker said she was “shocked” by the story in the “brutally honest” memoir. However, she also explained that she knew how deep the “Oops!…I Did It Again” singer had to dig to play the character. She told Yahoo! Entertainment:
She had to really go deep and find this character. So, yeah, you never know. I’m shocked that she said that she started to become that character after a while, but I think there was comfort in that character as well, because she was just one of the girls, finally. She was part of an ensemble and she was part of this group of people where you’re equal on a movie and you’re not just the star, which is who she was on tour. But on set, you’re the same with me. I’m the same as my sound man. We’re all part of a crew working on something.
The CB4 helmer also stressed that it’s hard to tell how someone is feeling inside. When discussing the Grammy winner’s comments from the book, the director reflected on how she worked with her lead star on the movie, saying:
You never know what’s going on inside somebody’s head during the experience. So I read that today and I was like, ‘Well, it was such an interesting journey with her to get her to do this, to act, to be this character,’ and I had to break her down to remove Britney the star to make her Lucy the character.
In the movie, Britney Spears starred alongside Zoe Saldaña (who enjoyed working with her) and Taryn Manning, aas they played a group of high school friends who go on a road trip with a guy they meet shortly after graduating. Tamra Davis said she wanted to help the singer with her acting so that she could perform at the same level as full-time actors, like Saldaña and Manning:
To me, I was always trying to get to the authentic Britney, where she wasn’t acting and where it really was her going through these experiences. And so in a weird way, I guess she’s describing Method acting, which she was.
Even though Crossroads was a difficult experience for the legendary pop star, it sounds like there’s no bad blood between her and her colleagues from the film. Tamra Davis even explained that she is “loosely” planning a reunion with the pop star. Also, their movie is actually set to return to theaters for a couple of days in October at the request of the singer herself
So, while Britney Spears won’t be appearing in any new projects on the 2023 movie schedule (as it sounds like her acting career is firmly behind her) Crossroads will. The film will play in theaters on October 23 and 25, right around the time the pop star’s book, The Woman in Me, hits bookshelves on October 24.
