The surreal day in 2001 when Robert De Niro played Britney Spears: “He ran the lines”
Having been lauded by critics, audiences, peers, and contemporaries for his immersive, chameleonic approach to character, at the peak of his powers, there was very little that Robert De Niro couldn’t do.
Even now, when he continues reminding everyone that comedy is something he should do much less often, moments of the old brilliance are still capable of shining through. Even if they weren’t, his reputation as one of the greatest actors of all time was cemented long ago.
The two-time Academy Award-winning legend has been responsible for some of the most powerful, awe-inspiring, and jaw-dropping performances in modern cinema, with everything from The King of Comedy and Taxi Driver to The Deer Hunter and Heat illustrating his brilliance, but what often goes overlooked or unmentioned is that De Niro is so versatile that he can even play Britney Spears.
You might see that and think we’ve lost our minds, but it’s true: Robert De Niro, titan of thespianism, decorated veteran, and a man who treats his craft with the utmost seriousness and sincerity, really did fill in for the popstar on a truly surreal day in 2001, all because he wanted to do a solid for a co-star.
After exploding in popularity at the turn of the millennium, Spears did what many other singers have done and turned her attention to the movie business. It didn’t go so well, with the star winning a ‘Worst Actress’ Razzie for her feature-length debut as Lucy Wagner in 2002’s Crossroads, and it must have been jarring for Anson Mount to be working through the script with a scene partner drastically less qualified than De Niro.
Obviously, understatements don’t get much bigger, just like stand-ins don’t get much weirder than the Raging Bull figurehead stepping in for Spears. Mount, who played a supporting role opposite De Niro in Michael Caton-Jones’ crime thriller City by the Sea, used some of his downtime during the picture’s early 2001 shoot in New York to get to grips with the screenplay for his next gig.
“He saw me with the script,” Mount recalled. “He said, ‘What is that?’, and I showed him. I told him, ‘It’s this Britney Spears movie. I don’t know if I’m going to do it’. He said, ‘Why not? She’s great’. And I said, ‘Alright, help me out here’. So he ran the lines for a couple of minutes. He played Lucy to my Ben.”
To be fair, it must have been equally surreal for him, too. Mount only had a couple of film credits to his name, and there he was, mulling over an offer to star in a pop star’s vanity project, only to have one of Hollywood’s most iconic leading men volunteer to go over the dialogue, all while inhabiting a part that would be played by Britney fucking Spears, of all people.
There are many moments in Hollywood history that everybody would love to be a fly on the wall for, and anyone with their head on straight would surely have watching Robert De Niro play the protagonist of Crossroads somewhere near the very top of the list.
