Britney Spears On Method Acting For ‘Crossroads’: “I Hope I Never Get Close To That Occupational Hazard Again”
Britney Spears is talking about the acting technique she used to film Crossroads which left her confused and not wanting to take on more acting roles.
“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,” Spears said in an excerpt from her memoir The Woman in Me shared by People. “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.”
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Spears continued, “I ended up walking differently, carrying myself differently, talking differently. I was someone else for months while I filmed Crossroads. Still to this day, I bet the girls I shot that movie with think, She’s a little…quirky. If they thought that, they were right.”
Following the film, Spears opted not to continue acting and says she was “relieved” after making that decision.
“I imagine there are people in the acting field who have dealt with something like that, where they had trouble separating themselves from a character,” she 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.”
Crossroads is a 2002 comedy directed by Tamra Davis and written by Shonda Rhimes. Spears starred in the movie alongside Anson Mount, Zoe Saldana, Taryn Manning, Kim Cattrall and Dan Aykroyd.
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