Wow! We always knew Britney Spears was almost in The Notebook, it’s one of those classic Hollywood what-if stories. But now we finally know a bit more what that would have looked like!

Thanks to DailyMail.com, we have our first look at the Sometimes singer’s audition tape from way back in 2002!!! The famous screen test video has been the Holy Grail for many a fan, with one eBay listing having offered as much as $1 MILLION for it!

And guess what… you get to watch it for free!!!

Before you do, one thing to keep in mind? Everything we’ve just learned was going on with Brit around that time! This was 2002, so she’d just broken up with Justin Timberlake — a relationship that had more heartbreak in it than we ever realized, what with that pregnancy and at-home abortion. The pop princess has a lot of raw emotion to channel into her acting. And it shows!!!

See the audition for yourself and imagine Britney opposite Ryan Gosling instead of Rachel McAdams (below)!

We have casting director Matthew Barry to thank for finally sharing the video with DM. He says Brit beat out some big names, too! Claire Danes, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel… Barry says the singer shocked everyone involved with her acting talent:

“Britney wasn’t just good — she was phenomenal. It was a tough decision. 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.”

WOW!!! No wonder she got so close to scoring the role, right?

But don’t weep for Britney! She wrote in her memoir she was happy she didn’t book the iconic romantic lead:

“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.”

LOLz! She doesn’t just mean “acting” on set either! She also wrote about how intensely the emotional experience of diving into a character had affected her while making Crossroads — and it was “the beginning and end of my acting career.” But she says she was “relieved” — so clearly everything worked out for the best. And early 2000s audiences got In The Zone AND this moment…

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