Crossroads Director Reacts to Britney Spears Memoir Claims, Says Spears Asked for Re-Release

Speaking with Yahoo Entertainment earlier this week, Davis shared her hopes of reuniting with the popstar and revealed that it was Spears who advocated for the film to be re-released in theaters.

While Crossroads has never been released on Blu-ray or streaming, the 2002 film is set to re-appear in movies theaters as part of a two-day event on October 23 and 25, couched between the release of Spears' memoir on the 24th.

"It was Britney who called to get the film re-released," Davis revealed. "I've been trying to do that forever. I was calling lawyers, I was calling people that I knew... And then all of a sudden I got a call from Sony. 'Hey, can you supervise the color correction we want for the film?' And [they said] that it was Britney that called and got the film out of Paramount to Sony so that it could be released."

She continued, "So I know she knows that I'm there for her and we'll do anything for her, but I also totally respect her privacy and also what she wants to do right now. And at least now I know that she's in control of that, and she's listening. Of course, I'd love to say hi, but she knows I'm there for her."

As for Spears' experience making the film, the "Everytime" singer writes in the memoir that it was not an easy one, noting that she fell too deep into character and it messed with her mind.

"You never know what’s going on inside somebody’s head during the experience," Davis said in response to Spears' revelations, adding that she was unaware of her struggles at the time. "So I read that today and I was like, 'Well, it was such an interesting journey with her to get her to do this, to act, to be this character,' and I had to break her down to remove Britney the star to make her Lucy the character."

"To me, I was always trying to get to the authentic Britney, where she wasn't acting and where it really was her going through these experiences. And so in a weird way, I guess she's describing Method acting, which she was," she continued.

Davis said she worked very closely with Spears' acting coach to get her performance up to par with co-stars Zoe Saldaña and Taryn Manning for her debut film.

"I worked very closely with the acting coach with her to just really try to make sure that her acting was comparable to Zoe and Taryn and [co-star Anson Mount], who are incredibly talented actors, so that she didn't come in and give a line how you would deliver it if you were on The Mickey Mouse Club," Davis shared.

She added, "She had to really go deep and find this character. So, yeah, you never know. I'm shocked that she said that she started to become that character after a while, but I think there was comfort in that character as well, because she was just one of the girls, finally. She was part of an ensemble and she was part of this group of people where you're equal on a movie and you're not just the star, which is who she was on tour. But on set, you're the same with me. I'm the same as my sound man. We're all part of a crew working on something."

Another bombshell from the highly-anticipated memoir? That Spears got an abortion at the insistence of her boyfriend at the time, Justin Timberlake, while making the film.

"Wow, that's so crazy. [And I'm] so sorry," Davis said after hearing the news. "I mean, that's why you write a memoir as you go through your life and you think about these things that happened to you and your regrets and those things. It's important for her to be able to tell her truth and also understand how she saw things... That’s really intense. I'm sorry that she had to go through that, and also I hope she had support going through that decision."

As for the film, Davis said she's hopeful Crossroads' two-day release will lead to it finally landing on a streaming platform, and is hopeful to see Spears in the future -- and maybe even explore the possibility of a sequel.

"People are talking, so I mean I think it's always great to discuss," she said. "... I'm just so happy to see Crossroads [again seeing the] light of day because it was really important film. And it was also rare that girls were making films about girls for girls by girls. That wasn't happening in the '90s, and it's happening now. Finally, only in the last few years are we starting to really see what a female gaze [looks like] and the stories women tell."

For more from Spears' memoir, check out the gallery below.