Watch Britney Spears' Emotional Audition Tape for The Notebook

Britney Spears' upcoming memoir, The Woman in Me, contains some major revelations about the iconic star including that she nearly starred opposite Ryan Gosling in The Notebook. While the role ultimately went to Rachel McAdams — something that Spears says in the book she's okay with now because of how it would have changed the trajectory of her career — fans can now get a glimpse of what the beloved 2004 film might have been like had Spears gotten the role instead. On Monday, The Daily Mail shared Spears' casting tape for the film, featuring the pop singer delivering an emotional scene read opposite an off-screen Gosling. You can check it out for yourself below.

As you can see in the video, Spears very much holds her own in the scene, coming to the verge of tears as she, as Allie, tells Gosling's Noah that she is going to marry another man. The video was shared with the Daily Mail by casting director Matthew Barry who said that Spears' audition was "phenomenal" and put her in serious contention for the role.

"Britney wasn't just good, she was phenomenal," Barry said (via Variety.) "Britney beat out several of the top female actresses at the time. Scarlett Johansson, Claire Danes, Kate Bosworth, Amy Adams, Jamie King, and Mandy Moore auditioned for this role. Britney beat out all of them. Everybody who was anybody that year wanted this part."

Spears Says She Was Relieved to Not Get The Notebook Role

While the role came down to Spears and McAdams, Spears has no regrets that it ultimately went to Adams. She explains in her memoir that had she gotten the role, it would have interrupted her music career.

"That was pretty much the beginning and end of my acting career, and I was relieved," Spears explained. "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. 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 it stands, 2002's Crossroads remains Spears' only major acting role, something she said impacted her relationship with acting going forward.

"The experience wasn't easy for me," Spears wrote. "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. 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. 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."

What do you think about Spears' The Notebook audition? Let us know in the comment section.