Capturing the Girl Beyond the Pop Star: Analyzing 'Crossroads' and Britney Spears | Vanity Fair

Written by Savannah Walsh

The Crossroads, a 2002 iconically significant coming-of-age film showcasing three close friends, Britney Spears, Zoe Saldana, and Taryn Manning, exploring their lives through a road trip is notoriously challenging to find in the streaming arena. Despite the scarcity of its access, the movie will be back in theatres on October 23 and 25 for a worldwide fan event scheduled with the publication of The Woman in Me, the much-awaited memoir by Spears. Britney herself authorized the re-release which gives fans an extraordinary opportunity to revisit her solo debut film. The director, Tamra Davis, also sees it as a chance to re-establish the film's legacy.

The movie tells a story of three childhood friends, rekindling their bond after discovering a wish box they had buried as children decide to participate in a Los Angeles music competition. The movie, however, faced severe criticism when being released. Davis, in a conversation with Vanity Fair, expressed her resentment over the criticism saying it was a film intended for girls, by girls.

The reappraisal of Crossroads seems apt in an era where women-centric productions like Barbie and the Taylor Swift concert film are thriving at the box office. The movie was directed, produced, and written by women, including Shonda Rhimes –best known for Grey’s Anatomy. Davis has an impressive career with starter films for celebrities like Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, and Dave Chappelle.

While discussing the larger campaign for women-centric cinema, Davis says, these movies catered to their fans and the love received from the fans was enough validation, despite critics. She mentions the comeback of Crossroads as proof that you should not always listen to critics and believe that your creation will withstand the test of time.

In celebration of the re-release of the movie, Director Davis shares her views on various aspects related to Crossroads, her first meeting with the protagonist Spears, Kim Cattrall's performance as the mother in the movie, and reaction to Spears statement on facing difficulties during the production.

She shares that sensing the shortage of Crossroads' availability on streaming platforms, many people questioned and even her lawyers had tried for the film’s re-release. However, it took a phone call from Britney herself to Sony that led them to purchase the film rights from Paramount. Eventually, the film will be available for streaming as well.

In retrospect, Davis strongly believes that the film's reception would be much better now than before and people would rather focus on the film's core subject- the beauty of female friendships instead of Spears' pop star image.

The director was initially not keen on doing a Britney Spears project and had been discouraged by her agents too. However, a meet with Britney changed her perspective about the singer and the project. She was intrigued by Britney's persona when she met her in Las Vegas and decided to go ahead with the project.

Throughout the entire day, I watched her transition from a southern girl I was familiar with, to the pop icon known as Britney Spears. Getting ready for a big event that evening, like the VMA Awards, is one thing but during our interactions, I unexpectedly fell for her. She shared with me that she wanted to take charge of her persona and insisted on doing all the rehearsals herself. She dedicated herself completely to the movie, saying, “I’ll follow your instructions to the letter”.

We integrated quite a lot of Britney's personal life into the movie, like singing an ’NSync song in a convertible, and having Jamie Lynn, her sister, portray a younger version of her character. The intention probably was to make her feel at ease during her debut film.

Britney’s close knit relationship with her mom and sister during the filming was definitely noteworthy. Not only did her sister resemble her closely, but Britney was also dating Justin [Timberlake] at that point, adding a fun dimension to the proceedings. It was an intriguing period in music with the conflict between the rock music of the late '90s and pop tunes girls were crazy about. The rivalry was very similar to that between the bands Blink 182 and Backstreet Boys.

Once, I remarked how we made sure Britney was content with every aspect of the film. Among the diverse elements of production, there was one we didn’t exactly see eye to eye on.

This was related to her track [“I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman”]. As the title suggests, it discussed her transition from a teenager to a woman, mirroring what the film's theme was. Most discussions regarding this had happened before my involvement. I had the most differences with Shonda, who was making her first film and was passionate about her strong ideas. Our viewpoints and backgrounds were quite contrasting. Since she was highly educated and staunchly opinionated, reaching a consensus required a significant amount of deliberation.

Britney was eager to be a part of the ensemble and desired to leave behind her superstar status to genuinely engage with this new experience. Any suggestions she made didn't come from a controlling place, rather it all seemed new and exciting to her, and she was extremely receptive to feedback.

From a recent excerpt in her book, Britney talks about completely immersing herself in her character for the movie, to the point where it made her cautious about committing to another acting role. Her feeling of complete involvement became apparent while working with her.

Absolutely, and I am eagerly waiting to know her thoughts. For me, the aim was to prevent her from merely acting, which she had been trained to do during her stint on The Mickey Mouse Club. It was like being in the company of better tennis players and allowing them to interact with superior actors such as Taryn, Zoe and Anson [Mount]. It would have seemed forced to have someone pretending to act alongside Taryn Manning. In fact, Taryn’s realistic acting led me to question if I needed an actor or the actual girl, and my sister clarified that Taryn was in fact acting.

Knowing Britney better helped me portray her more authentically. I was deeply moved when I revisited the movie, as it had been my intention to portray her as effectively. It was poignant to see scenes of her discussing her lost teenage years with her dad, or her rejection by her mother. Every tear was real, every sentiment was genuine. It was revealing to see her realize that she was embodying her character fully, not being typical Britney.

During the zenith of her career, it was daunting to clear the barriers of her public persona, created and maintained by a dedicated team. Did you find it challenging to gain her trust during that period?

I’m so grateful for somebody like Ann, because right in the very beginning she put her foot down and was like, “The moment I have you on this set, you’re no longer Britney Spears.” I had the support of the producers, and the film had Britney and [record executive] Clive Davis behind it. They supported those decisions so that we really could shut out the world of Britney. It really made it a big difference.

I remember watching the Madonna documentary, and you see that when you are the top banana, everybody does everything you want to do. And that’s not what it’s like on a movie. So we needed to get her to the place where when she came on set, she was just like all of us. I love set life, because you feel like you’re at a giant summer camp most of the time. There shouldn’t be one top person that runs it, because it just wrecks it. And I just love after the film, when they’re doing the B-roll of “Overprotected” and you cut away and see who she was at that time—how relaxed and fun. I just love seeing that part of her.

Kim Cattrall is so delicious as Britney’s mother in the film. But is it true that Madonna was floated for that role?

It’s probably internet lore. We talked about who we love. We love Britney, and I love Madonna. So to open the film with her dancing in her bedroom [to Madonna’s “Open Your Heart”], and just the celebration of girl culture, that’s what we do—we close our bedroom door, we play around. I love that. To me, it’s my female gaze saying, this is what girls are like. I love that. And of course, Britney was super into that.

With Kim Cattrall, we all loved Sex and the City. That’s legendary. So we asked Kim if she could be in the film, but it was also a real risk for her. And I think that’s also what Kim liked, is she’s not playing a good character. It’s super harsh. You’re playing a mom who rejects somebody, and it’s really intense. So I really liked the bravery that she had to do a role like that. Not all mothers are…Sometimes you don’t want your past to come back to you, and it’s threatening.

Another thing I was struck by is that the film’s main twist is identical to the one at the center of Big Little Lies season one. Has anyone ever brought that up to you?

No! Maybe [Big Little Lies] author Liane Moriarty is a Crossroads fan [laughs]. But that’s freaking Shonda Rhimes, she’s brilliant. Look at her career afterwards. She is incredible. I was so struck when I watched it, about how you start to unfold these secrets that these girls hold. But that takes time. It doesn’t just happen immediately. So by the end of the film, how the friendship really builds and comes back together, I just was really impressed with that. That’s Shonda showing us her complexity of female characters and that it takes time to unfold.

And you had to fight for the scene where Lucy loses her virginity to Ben, right?

Me and Sherry Lansing [then Paramount chairman], we did a screening, she said, “I have a suggestion. Let’s look at the movie if we take out that scene.” And I was like, “What? The whole reason Britney made this movie is because of that scene.” And it’s done so tastefully that if you’re a child, you almost have no idea what’s going on. I did it super choreographed. I knew that I would have backup from Britney, everybody would back me up. I fought for that scene. It would’ve been so silly to take it out. We screened the film with the female audience after [our conversation] with that scene. And my scores were so high that Sherry let me keep it in.

As fun as the film is, there’s also a sadness in knowing what Britney would experience in the years after. In the past, you believed that Britney’s conservatorship prevented the two of you from reconnecting in a real way. Now that it’s over, have you been in contact?

No. We’ve been in contact with her new manager, and I think she knows that I’m there for her. I totally respect however she wants to communicate. I knew that she couldn’t speak because of the SAG contract, but I just wanted to let her know that no matter what happened, I would be next to her so she wouldn’t have to do anything alone. And even knowing that she trusts me to go out and speak…I’d love to talk to her whenever she’s ready. But I totally respect wherever she is right now, and love her dearly.