Criss Angel: How Britney's Performance Was Supposed to Turn Out

If magic man Criss Angel had his way, Britney Spears‘ 2007 VMAs Performance would have turned out much, much, much differently.

The L.A. Times recently spoke with the 40-year-old magician to hear his original ideas for Britney‘s VMAs performance. Here’s what he said:

“With Britney I presented concepts to create, within her performance, illusions that would happen in the open. You would see Britney and then she would split into two Britneys and then four Britneys with no boxes or covers. It would just be a visual effect using no screens. People in the past have used the art of magic in music performances but mostly in a cheesy way. Magic has not kept up with popular culture and technology.

“Other things I wanted to do with her was to literally transform her into birds and then for her to reappear in the audience. I also thought of having her levitate over the audience. It was going to be really visual moments that were all epic tableaux that were beautiful, artistic, elegant and, most important, unique — things MTV hasn’t seen in music. I wanted to captivate people in the moment. That was the essence of what I wanted to do with the Britney performance, because I think the performance she did with the snake was a highlight of her career and I wanted to trump that and I thought we had it.”

So, what happened?

“Britney is really strong with her own ideas. And what I had planned wasn’t an easy thing to do and would have required a lot of rehearsals. Ultimately, I told her I needed 100% commitment or I wasn’t going to be able to do this. I told her that, ‘You have to feel comfortable.’ So, we explored it and she decided it wasn’t for her, and I completely understand.”

Sounds like it would have been an unforgettable performance to see Britney split herself into four. Not that her actual performance wasn’t unforgettable to begin with! If only Britney gave it her all…