Britney inspired Gwyneth's Country Strong role

New York (ANI): Britney Spears" struggle with drug addiction was the inspiration behind Gwyneth Paltrow"s washed-up alcoholic singer character in Country Strong. Writer and director Shana Feste revealed during a screening of the film in Los Angeles that she used the 29-year-old pop star"s fall from grace as a jumping off point for the film.

“That"s where this movie came from. I mean, I was seeing what was happening in the media to Britney Spears," the New York Daily News quoted her from the Los Angeles Times. In the movie, Paltrow, 38, is playing Kelly Canter, a once-shining country performer who attempts to resurrect her career after a stint in rehab for substance abuse.

Seven years after becoming a teen pop idol in the 2000s, Spears had a highly publicized meltdown when she followed up a brief stint in drug rehab by shaving her head and later attacking a car with an umbrella. The next year she was put under involuntary psychiatric hold and lost custody of her kids.

Feste, who finished her screenplay around the death of Michael Jackson, also noted that the king of pop"s relationship with the press also inspired her. “I think it"s tragic how we treat people who give us so much, and we love to see them knocked down to build them back up again, to knock them down again. It"s a weird fascination," she concluded.