Allison Williams Says Don't 'Hate Watch' 'Peter Pan Live' When It Airs on NBC December 4th with Christopher Walken
Peter Pan Live! is airing Thursday night (Dec 4) on NBC starring Christopher Walken and Allison Williams. Williams, who is known for her role on HBO'sGirls, told The Daily Beast: "I will say this about last year: today's audiences like to watch things cynically. And I'm on a show that's cynical in tone so I'm no stranger to that ... Hate-watching is a thing. It's a whole way of watching something, and it's not an audience that's natural to a non-cynical performance. Peter Pan, you cannot watch cynically. If you do, you're going to hate it, no question. It falls apart instantly."
NBC is following up on last year's A Sound of Music Live! that starred Carrie Underwood. The live show did not go over great with critics, but did get good ratings, which opened the door for Peter Pan Live!
Her Peter Pan Live! co-star (and A Sound of Music Live! cast) Christian Borle added: "I don't mind going on record saying that I was mesmerized by the actors in our community who were so snarky about Sound of Music on Twitter. I just thought, 'Don't you ever want to work for NBC? They're reading all of this.' Also, just be nice. I don't understand the impulse to tear down."
Allison Williams stopped by the "Today" show on earlier this Fall and shared about her upcoming role as Peter Pan, even being willing to cut her hair for the role.
"I sort of very tentatively offered to cut my hair, I was like, 'You know, if it's a thing that would help I could cut my hair,' and they were like, 'You're welcome to do that, we're still gonna put you in a wig.'"
Executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron called Williams a "major find" for the special. "She will reinvent the iconic role of Peter Pan with her wit, her warmth, her dynamic flying and her wonderful musical abilities," Zadan and Meron said last month.
The casting choice was a surprise to many, as Williams is best known for playing, Marnie, on the HBO show "Girls".
NBC chief Robert Greenblatt said: "We couldn't be happier that Allison Williams is our Peter Pan. She's a lovely rising star on the award-winning show Girls-where she occasionally shows off her incredible vocal talent-and we think she will bring the perfect blend of 'boyish' vulnerability and bravado to save the day against Christopher Walken's powerful Captain Hook."
The Peter Pan cast announced earlier this year that Christopher Walken as Captain Hook and now maybe Brian Williams, Allison's father, would make a cameo during the NBC production.
Peter Pan Live is based on the original 1954 Broadway musical which includes songs such as "I'm Flying," "I Won't Grow Up," and "Ugg-a-Wugg". NBC is following up on its very successful 2013 telecast of The Sound of Music Live with Carrie Underwood, which brought in 18.6 million viewers last December.