Zoe Saldaña Remembers Britney Spears As Behaving This Way

Actress Zoe Saldaña is looking back on filming the seminal 2002 coming-of-age film “Crossroads,” alongside Britney Spears. The “Center Stage” actress revealed Spears was anything but a diva behind the scenes!

The twosome starred alongside “Orange Is The New Black” actress Taryn Manning, and “Star Treck: Strange New World” actor Anson Mount.

Spears was fresh off the release of her third album, “Britney,” which features multiple songs also included in the MTV film, including “Overprotected” and “I’m Not A Girl Not Yet A Woman.”

“Crossroads” tells the story of three childhood friends who buried a time capsule, vowing to dig it up on the night of their high school graduation. After being estranged for several years largely because of social-related pressure, the trio decide to embark on a road trip together to support Manning’s character, Mimi, as she embarks on a singing audition.

“Crossroads” director Tamra Davis took a look back at filming Spears’ big screen debut in the wake of Spears’ memoir release, last year.

Davis spoke to Entertainment Weekly and revealed what a then-teenage Spears was really like.

At the time of filming, Spears was in a relationship with her former “Mickey Mouse Club” castmate, Justin Timberlake. The duo were dating from 1999 until 2002. Davis shared a sweet story about discovering Timberlake had been in Spears’ hotel room, in an attempt to check on her whereabouts.

Davis recalled, “I would have to go knock on her hotel room door in the morning sometimes and be like, ‘OK, Britney, time to go,’ and Justin would be there,” she recalled. “It was during the height of, ‘Is Britney a virgin?’ I wasn’t even going to ask! Even waking her up in the hotel room, I was like, whatever is going on in your private life, that’s private.”

Spears’ personal life was a hot topic in the press during the early years of her career.

The “…Baby One More Time” singer had previously been outspoken about her choice to remain abstinent until marriage, during a period when the connection between virginity and pop singers, received a great deal of media attention. Spears revealed in her memoir, “The Woman In Me,” that she had lost her virginity to “a childhood best friend” of her brother, Bryan Spears, as The Blast previously reported.

Davis discussed Spears’ image as the “forever virgin girl,” and how it impacted the film. She revealed to EW that she and writer Shonda Rhimes had “to fight” to keep a steamy scene featuring Spears and Mount in the final cut of the film.

“We definitely had to fight for some stuff,” Davis recalled. “She wanted to [challenge] that image that she’s this forever virgin girl,” she continued.

Saldaña played popular girl Kit, whose ultimate goal is to marry her boyfriend. While on the road trip, Kit discovers her man has been unfaithful, and his ‘mistress’ turns out to be someone extremely close to Kit.

The “Guardians of The Galaxy” actress recently reflected on her time spent filming “Crossroads” with Spears.

The actress told Variety, per People that filming “was so fun, but it was also, like, the first time that I was around a big pop star,” Saldaña continued. “And she was just so sought after, and yet, she was so down to earth and kind and approachable,” she recalled, of Spears’ personality on set.

The actress also explored the idea of returning to the big screen to reprise her role as Kit in a “Crossroads” sequel.

“I feel like [a sequel] would only work if Britney comes back and plays her character again,” Saldaña explained, of a hypothetical sequel to the film.

“And Taryn Manning does as well, and Anson Mount. And that we write realistic sort of scenarios for them. That would be beautiful,” the actress continued.

Spears was honest when sharing her thoughts about acting in “A Woman In Me.” The “Oops! I Did It Again” singer recalled she learned that acting wasn’t as enjoyable for her as it perhaps should have been.

“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,” Britney wrote. “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,” she explained.

Spears continued, “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,” the “Lonely” singer wrote.