As teenage lovers Noah and Allie in The Notebook, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams were the envy of anybody yearning for the ultimate Hollywood romance. But with a glimpse of Britney Spears' audition tape for McAdams' role surfacing after 21 years - some fans think she would have been perfect for that role too!
A rumored audition tape, withheld by Hollywood casting director Matthew Barry for two decades and shared exclusively with DailyMail.com, shows how close Britney Spears, then 21 years old, actually came to landing the lead role after putting on an incredibly moving performance during her screen test with Ryan Gosling.
Barry claims that the singer, now 41, was the front-runner for the role of Allie before the filmmakers chose McAdams, 44, over a long list of competitors, including Claire Danes, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, and Britney's ex boyfriend' wife herself, Jessica Biel.
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Fans of Spears have been clamoring for years to view the coveted 2002 screen test, which was supposedly listed for sale on eBay in 2021 for $1 million.
Britney Spears' 'The Notebook' Audition: 'She Wasn't Just Good'
In the video, Spears and Gosling, who are both off-camera, read through a passage together while the pop diva begins to cry gradually.
Spears is wearing a white lace blouse and her hair is down. She says, "I'm not staying. I tried to call you to let you know that I wasn't going to stay, but no one picked up the phone."
As she delivers the heartbreaking news that her character is moving forward with her intentions to marry another guy, Spears struggles to keep eye contact and says, "Noah, you can't marry two people. I should leave since I'm getting married to Lon, okay?
She then begins to cry as she tells Ryan Gosling: "I prayed for you to die in the war, really," demonstrating why she deserved to be considered for the part.
Spears' astonishing show of unbridled emotion "blew away" the film's producers and all but guaranteed her role in the production.
...She Was Phenomenal
Barry recounted the audition in a Los Angeles studio on August 18, 2002, saying, "Britney wasn't just good; she was phenomenal."
It was a difficult choice but in the end, McAdams secured the role, even though Britney left them all speechless.
"The Notebook," which was adapted from Nicholas Sparks' 1996 book of the same name, tells the story of Allie and Noah, who fall in love in the 1940s before being torn apart by her disapproving mother.
The video can be watched here.
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