Maria, welcome to 21^st Century bullying.

When NBC announced that Carrie Underwood will be playing Maria Von Trapp in the remake of 'Sound of Music,' they certainly did not anticipate the backlash. The live broadcast will not happen under 8 PM ET of Dec. 5.

Underwood said in an interview that her Twitter account was flooded with hate messages like "You're not Julie Andrews!"

"I know I'm not Julie. Nobody is and I would never pretend that I was ... I know my place," she said.

Not even a ringing endorsement from Andrews herself seemed to quell the anger.

Julie Andrews, who played the original Maria in the 1965 classic film, offered her support for Carrie Underwood.  

"Fifty years later, it's time somebody had another crack at it. I had the best time of my life doing it and it did wonderful things for me," she told Zap2It in an interview.

She even sympathized with the "daunting" task that Underwood is facing since 'Sound of Music'will be broadcast live, without the benefit of retake when she mess up.

Carrie Underwood, for her part, won the "American Idol" Season 4 in 2005 and successfully launched several Country singles including the highly successful "Jesus Take the Wheel."

It's unclear why she was singled out among the cast members since she has the vocal chops to do justice to the Maria role. By contrast, casual fans have no idea whether Stephen Moyer, who plays a badass vampire in HBO series "True Blood," has the range to tackle Captain Von Trapp.

Multiple Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald, meanwhile, will play Mother Abess.

Based on a true story, the Sound of Music tells the story of Maria who always wanted to be a nun. When Navy captain and widower Georg Von Trapp requested the convent to recommend a governess to look after his children, Maria's name was called. She soon brought the family closer together through music.