MOVIE SCENE
Britney Spears tries to make the leap into acting

By Ann Oldenburg
USA Today

Britney Spears is starring in "Crossroads," opening today. Gannett News Service

"I was like AAAAghhh."

"I was like Oh, my gosh!"

Everything is "fun!" or "a challenge."

Britney Spears is the Miss America of pop stars, a mix of outrageous sexiness wrapped up with all the just-right, cream-puff answers.

An army of publicists and bodyguards lines the hallways leading to her hotel suite, where right now she is curled up on the couch in low-riding purple pants, spiky ivory boots and a frilly beige form-fitting top.

Get ready, it's time to launch phase two of her career: Britney the Actress.

Spears' Pepsi Super Bowl ads got a ton of attention (even though on USA Today's ad meter they ranked in the bottom five), as did her recent "Saturday Night Live" appearance — she was the host, acted in just about every skit and was the musical guest, too. She just did a two-part interview with Katie Couric, she's on the cover of Cosmopolitan and Teen People, and she spent most of last week in The Big Easy (she grew up in Kentwood, La.) for a special homecoming and MTV screening of her new movie, "Crossroads."

It happened like this: She was getting a little bored with wiggling around with a snake singing "I'm a Slave 4 U," so she thought up a story, hired a scriptwriter, cast a handful of actors you've never heard of, and spent about a week and half with an acting coach. Voila! Britney's first movie opens today.

"Before 'Crossroads' I was so nervous," the 20-year-old admits. "I was like OOOhhhh, what am I doing?"

She may be right to be fearful, even with a crack marketing team. For every Cher and Whitney Houston who has made the Great Leap, pop history is littered with music stars who couldn't quite cross over. Just ask Mariah Carey.

Mandy Moore, now starring in "A Walk to Remember," says she was "really initially scared that people would have already passed judgment on me — how I was going to be to work with or how the work was going to be. The pop genre of music is not a good stereotype or place to be in." But "once I got the set, I realized that no one really cared."

"You know, things happen for a reason," says Britney, undaunted. "I pray that it doesn't (bomb), but this is just something I had to do for me. As long as my fans go to it and take what they want out of it, that's my initiative."

Britney's mom, Lynne, says, "It's really good the way she shared the lead role (with Taryn Manning and Zoe Saldana), so she doesn't have the whole thing on her back."

Kim Cattrall plays Britney's mom. She says Britney "wanted to be good in the scene and wanted to hold her own. She more than did that."

Yet, Cattrall says , "there was nothing slick about her at all. I don't know how you perform the way she does and still be that vulnerable and unaffected and real."

Already Spears has an answer to "What if critics don't like it?"

"Honestly, if critics like it I'm going to be really worried, because everything the critics like, I freakin' don't like."

Britney now sits up on her knees. Serious. Excited.

"No, it's the truth! Everything they like, I hate. As long as my fans can go to the movie and be somewhat touched by it, that was my initiative with this."

After seeing the movie, 20-year-old Rachel Cannon of Metairie, La., said: "Britney's actually good."

Added Beverly Buhler, also 20 and who took dance classes with Britney when they were both 13: "She surprised me. She was good."

The New Orleans newspaper reports Britney's grandfather, said of the movie, "It's all right. I prefer John Wayne."

Aside from family, what's the single most important thing that has gotten her to where she is today?

"I think it boils down to talent," she says. "And another thing is my drive."

So "ambitious" would be a good word to describe her?

"Ambitious. Optimistic. I'm goofy. I'm just like everybody else!"

The movie seems geared to portray her that way: an everyday teen, the high school valedictorian headed to med school. She dances on her bed in pink panties before rebelling against her dad and leaving home in search of her mom, who left when she was a toddler. On the way, she wins a karaoke contest. By the end, she has lost her virginity. The message fans should take from this?

"I want them to take the fact that even though we all have our quirks — we do, we all do — as long as you have your girlfriend you can call up and say, 'Look,' that's what the whole movie is about."

There's a love scene in "Crossroads," but it's more suggested than shown. When asked if she'd be willing to be topless, Britney frowns.

"I would never do that."

Would Britney ever pose nude?

"No, I would never do something like that!"

Because?

"I just wouldn't feel comfortable being completely naked ('nekkid' when she says it) in front of people. That's totally against what I believe in."

But she has no problem wearing sexy outfits on a regular basis?

"You draw the line somewhere," she says. "When I go to a show, if I want to see a person just sit there and sing, I'll go buy the CD and listen to it myself.

"When I go to a show — this is my opinion — I like to be entertained. I like to see Janet's show or Madonna's show. I like that. So that's what I do. I go on stage and put on my costumes and I don't walk around like that every day."