Country music star and former American Idol winner Carrie Underwood has been getting heckled for weeks about taking on the role of Maria von Trapp in NBC’s The Sound of Music Live!. The 30-year-old singer addressed the issue of getting hate tweets from Julie Andrews fans just a few days ago, and now the real Von Trapp family is piling on. Myles von Trapp Derbyshire, the great grandson of Maria von Trapp, says the family wanted Underwood replaced.
“It’s just upsetting that this could potentially be the final broadcast of our story,” Derbyshire told ABC News. “And although her voice is amazing, she doesn’t have acting experience…It’s just the overall image, she’s a country star, she won American Idol, she’s very public in kind of a tabloid way.”
Ouch. So, who would the Von Trapp family have selected to perform the role of Maria von Trapp, if they had a say in the matter? Anne Hathaway, who took home an Academy Award for her performance in Les Misérables.
“[Our family has] had the conversations of who could play this role better and it was Anne Hathaway, for example,” Derbyshire said. Interestingly enough, Hathaway previously starred alongside the woman behind the on-screen version of Maria von Trapp, Julie Andrews, a little over 10 years ago. Hathaway appeared in the two The Princess Diaries films with Andrews back in 2001 and 2004.
Considering that The Sound of Music Live! was just a TV event with the only other highly recognizable name in the cast being Stephen Moyer of True Blood, it seems that the Von Trapp family might have had their sights set a little high. If Hollywood ever decided to do a remake of the original movie for the big screen, God forbid, it would be more understandable for the Von Trapp family to expect a bigger name than Carrie Underwood.
For anyone who tuned in to The Sound of Music Live! last night, how do you think Carrie Underwood did? Add your comments below. Even though Underwood has received a lot of hate tweets, it seems that the reception to the movie was generally positive.
Thank you @carrieunderwood for making me stay past my bed time to watch #TheSoundOfMusicLive you are amazing, please be in more musicals!
— Candice Ryan (@IamCandiceRyan) December 6, 2013
Watching #TheSoundOfMusicLive again. Blown away by @carrieunderwood performance!
— Betsy (@BetsySue4) December 6, 2013
I for one liked #TheSoundOfMusicLive
— Catholicgauze (@Catholicgauze) December 6, 2013
[Image via YouTube]