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| Carrie Underwood |
Of course, that was just in the music video for her smash “All-American Girl.”
But the country music superstar brings her winning all-American charm to her movie debut in “Soul Surfer,” the inspirational Christian-themed surf biopic opening in theaters today.
The Checotah native happily took the chance to film on location in Hawaii and join a cast headlined by seasoned young actress AnnaSophia Robb, Oscar winner Helen Hunt and two-time Golden Globe nominee Dennis Quaid.
“The movie was great. That whole experience was great. It was a lot of fun. I had no idea what I was doing, but everybody on set was so great working with me,” Underwood told me in an interview last fall before her Oklahoma tour dates.
“Soul Surfer” is based on the true story of teen surf champ Bethany Hamilton, who in 2003 lost her left arm in a shark attack off Kauai, Hawaii. In a stunning comeback, the 13-year-old returned to the ocean less than a month after the attack and went on to achieve her lifelong dream of becoming a professional surfer.
Underwood plays Sarah Hill, a youth leader at the church the Hamilton family attends.
Sarah serves as a sympathetic sounding board for Bethany as the teen struggles to cope with her drastically altered life.
She also gives Bethany a chance to gain a new perspective when she takes the girl on a mission trip to tsunami-ravaged Thailand.
“I've done obviously a lot of music videos, so I think in that way that kind of prepared me for being in front of the camera, but it's a completely different thing being with other actors and trying to make a movie and try to make it good,” Underwood said in a promotional video.
“I think the most challenging aspect of making this movie for me is just that I've never done it before.”
The Grammy winner said her primary motivation for taking the role was to help tell Hamilton's inspirational story, which she remembered from the news coverage of the 2003 attack. But she didn't know about the Hamiltons' steadfast faith until she read the script, and she believes it's impossible not to be affected by the surfer's story of courage and hope.
“I always said if something came along and it was for the right reasons, we could fit it into an already busy schedule. And it just felt right,” Underwood said. “It just sounded like a wonderful idea, and once you get around the family, I mean, they're just amazing people. And I cannot wait for people to go to the theater — you know, go with a youth group, go with friends — and learn a lot about people that we could all be more like.”
Underwood agreed to the role and arrived in Hawaii about two weeks later. She got to spend time with the real Hill and the Hamilton family on set, and in Underwood's opinion, “the original is way cooler.”
“I could never be the real Sarah Hill,” she said. “You could see how much she means to this family.”
Instead of trying to emulate Hill's clothing preferences or speech patterns, Underwood focused on conveying her character's inner strength.
“The main thing to focus on was just her being a rock for this family, for the Hamiltons, and her being a rock for Bethany and just the strength she has to be able to guide Bethany and the family through this,” Underwood said.
While “Soul Surfer” marks her big-screen acting debut, Underwood has earned a few other movie and TV credits apart from “Idol” and her music videos. She gained a People's Choice Award nomination for her 2010 guest spot on the hit sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” and received a Golden Globe nomination for co-writing “There's a Place for Us,” the end-credit theme to “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” out on DVD and Blu-ray today.
“As far as future things, I don't know. I mean, I really try not to have too many goals,” Underwood told me last fall. “Things just have a way of coming up. I'm all about doing what I love, and if something else gets thrown in the mix, then I definitely have an open mind towards it.”
Sources: http://www.newsok.com
