The “nervous” moment Rebel Wilson needed to contact Britney Spears
Just before the 2000s drew to a close, Australian actor and comedian Rebel Wilson took the brave decision to try her hand overseas in the United States, a gamble that has undoubtedly paid off given her fine and acclaimed performances in the likes of Bridesmaids, Pitch Perfect and Jojo Rabbit.
Following her initial decade of success, Wilson then starred in the Netflix comedy movie Senior Year, the feature film directorial debut of Alex Hardcastle. In it, she plays a 37-year-old woman who suddenly wakes up after being in a coma for the last 20 years and makes the split decision to return to high school to finally graduate.
As such, the film is dripping in nostalgia for the late 1990s and early 2000s and features a scene in wish Wilson was afforded the opportunity to recreate the music video for Britney Spears’ iconic ‘(You Drive Me) Crazy’. However, in order to go ahead with the rendition, she had first to get the permission of Spears herself.
In an interview with Entertainment, Wilson explained the “nervous” process of contacting the iconic singer. “We had to get Britney’s permission,” she said. “I was really nervous. ‘Oh my gosh, I hope she knows we’re [paying] homage to her with this.’ It was really awesome that she gave permission to do it. ‘Crazy’ was just such a cool song, such an iconic video clip… I just thought that would be really cool.”
Wilson, fortunately, had experience singing popular music in the Pitch Perfect movies, so she was more than comfortable bringing Britney back into the 2020s. In fact, Wilson performed the scene so well that director Alex Hardcastle was blown away by her effort and could almost feel the spirit of the singer moving through her.
Further discussing the scene and what it was like to more-or-less portray Spears for a split moment, Wilson noted, “We recreated that exact set. What was weird is I didn’t really practice that much. When I shot it, I tried to just channel Britney, and then immediately our director, Alex Hardcastle, was like, ‘Oh my God, you were, like, so Britney.’ In certain takes, I really just believed I was her. It comes out really funny.”
Check out the trailer for Senior Year as well as the music video for Spears’ ‘(You Drive Me) Crazy’ below to see Rebel Wilson channel her inner Britney.
