Britney Spears revealed she was "glad" to have lost the lead role in The Notebook to Rachel McAdams, prompting casting director Matthew Barry to share her audition tape with The Daily Mail. In the two-minute long video, Spears says, whilst her eyes well up with tears, "I prayed for you to die in the war, really. Well, not die. I would have felt completely horrible if you would've died. But I kinda didn't want you to be alive anymore because I couldn't bear the thought of you being with somebody else, or of us never seeing each other again. So I gotta go, okay?" Barry told The Daily Mail the pop star "wasn't just good, she was phenomenal." "It was a tough decision," he continued, reflecting on Spears' audition. "Britney blew us all away. Our jaws were on the floor. I was blown away. Absolutely blown away. She brought her A-game that day." Since the sharing of Spears' audition, people have praised her acting but ultimately agreed that it should have been McAdams that got the part. "Love Britney down and she looked adorable but Rachel McAdams was just born for the role", the top comment under the tape read: "I mean [obviously] Rachel is perfect in this role, but I'm actually really impressed with [Britney's] audition", wrote another. This sentiment was prevalent throughout the reactions to Spears' tape. "Rachel was perfect and iconic for the role. HOWEVER... seeing this I now understand why Britney was considered for the role", one user shared. It seems Spears agrees that role should have gone to McAdams, writing in her upcoming memoir The Woman in Me "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," she writes. "If I had, instead of working on my album 'In the Zone' I'd have been acting like a 1940s heiress day and night." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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A British cargo ship has reportedly sunk off the coast of Germany following a collision, with several people missing as rescuers search for survivors. Two cargo ships crashed into each other in the North Sea, according to German authorities. The ships, Polesie and Verity, collided in the early morning about 14 nautical miles south-west of the island of Helgoland, Germany’s Central Command for Maritime Emergencies said. One of the ships, the British-flagged Verity, apparently sank, while the Polesie remains waterborne with its 22 passengers. One person was rescued from the water and is being given medical treatment, while rescue parties are searching for several more people who remain unaccounted for. The search operation currently includes a rescue cruiser, police boats, sensor aircraft and a helicopter among other vessels. The emergency command said the British ship was headed from Bremen, Germany, to the English port of Immingham. More follows on this breaking news story Read More ‘All that is missing is a whip’: How Home Office ignored migrant worker abuses on farms Ukrainian priest arrested for stealing ancient gold jewellery worth £52m 10 Brits killed in Israel-Gaza conflict as six suspected hostages held by Hamas

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