Britney Spears

This past summer, I was pleased, awed, and inspired to interview the ponderously talented and incredibly astute Nicole Oliver, and when I noticed that Nicole was appearing in a Lifetime movie based on the life of Britney Spears, I hoped for the opportunity to interview her yet again. Just last week, she and I chatted in depth about her role of Lynne Spears in this film which will premiere tonight (February 18th) on the Lifetime Network. In addition to this much-anticipated biopic, Nicole was able to inform us of a couple of other things she has on the horizon for this year, as this looks to be a most eventful year for this busy mom, wife, and actress, including new challenges about which she is only able to hint.

RH: It looks like you have been busy since we last spoke.
When it was announced that you were going to be in this film, my immediate response was, "Oh, I don't like Britney Spears," because of all the garbage that's out there. And then I thought, "Now that's not the right mindset to have in all this. I don't even know the story."

The script that I got to read, Ruth--the script that I shot..... Here's my caveat. I haven't seen it all put together. You go into a project. You get a script. You read it, and you go, "Oh, this is interesting. I like that. I like the themes." For me, the themes are redemption, comeback, honesty, and dealing with personal demons. It has great, palatable scenes that are part of any story of success about real people. And the story was an opportunity to play a woman that was fighting for her daughter's sanity and a chance for her to live. That's how I approached it.

I knew that going into the movie with preconceived notions was not a good thing, so I am making the conscious decision to go in with an open mind. There will be people who are going to judge it from the get-go, and they are not going to get out of what they would have had they decided to be more