Crossroads

It was a development process ”Legally Blonde” heroine Elle Woods would have been proud of. ”We came up with the concept at Fred Segal,” says Spears of the idea, hatched by the 20-year-old performer and friend Felicia Culotta, to fashion a feature about three girls and a guy who embark on a Georgia-to-L.A. road trip. ”We got a writer in and I read the script and was like, ‘Whoa!”’Ah, to be a pop star in her first starring role.

As it happens, a ”Crossroads” plot point even influenced the song selection on Spears’latest album. ”There’s a karaoke scene in the movie and they were like, ‘What song do you want to do?”’she remembers. ”I sing ‘I Love Rock ‘N Roll’every time I go to karaoke. So I was like, ‘Let’s do that song!’That’s why it’s on the album.”

But don’t expect reception to the lighthearted drama to be as smooth. ”In the movie, she gives up her virginity,” says director Davis (”Billy Madison”). ”And there is a core part of her audience that still believes in those ideals. Some of them will be like, ‘Oh my gosh!’But she’s playing a character in the movie, as opposed to her life story. It’s not ‘Glitter.”’From her lips to God’s ears.