There’s a song Dolly Parton sings at virtually every show she does — and no, I’m not talking about “Jolene.” While that smoldering infidelity-heartbreaker might be what springs to mind for many people, the song in question is a much quieter, simple story. It’s called “Coat Of Many Colors,” and like many of her other tracks, it draws from Dolly’s own memories.
Parton and her family notoriously grew up dirt-poor in the Tennessee mountains, and Parton’s mother did what she could to keep her children clothed as cheaply as possible. Of course, this included stitching together old scraps to make something new, hence the “Coat Of Many Colors,” which drew bullying from the other children at Dolly’s school and led to her mother’s “rich in love” sermon. Many of us probably heard that one growing up, but few turned it into part of their own positivity-driven empire like the one Parton currently presides over.
It turns out that little domestic sermon resonated with a lot of people, because when Dolly decided to turn that song into a movie, 13 million viewers decided to tune in and watch. As the old country saying goes — if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnDh-3tBi-4
Since that wasn’t the only story in Parton’s arsenal, she’s back this year with a Christmas-focused film special called Christmas Of Many Colors: Circle of Love that airs for the first time Wednesday, 11/30 on NBC at 9/8 Central. If you can’t make that airing, never fear, the film is available digitally 12/1 and available on DVD by 12/20 — plenty of time to add to the list for music-lover gifts.
While the first version followed the origin story of Dolly’s colorful coat, this one traces the story of the children giving up their Christmas gifts and pooling their resources to buy their beloved mama the wedding ring their dad could never afford. Oh, and then a blizzard comes and buries the house! Basically, it’s the ideal feel-good Christmas story, a faith-based film, and includes Jennifer Nettles reprising her role as Dolly’s mother, and a cameo from Dolly herself as, ahem, the “painted lady.”
In advance of that movie, and to get more background about what inspired it, I spoke with Dolly over the phone earlier this month. We talked about that little old coat, the importance of Christmas, how even kids without strong families can navigate the holidays and her film, and oh yeah — the forthcoming “Jolene” film that’s also in the making.
I’m really excited to talk about your film today! I wanted to start off asking for you, how does storytelling through a film differ from the experience of sharing those stories through songwriting?
I tell you, it’s different. Because in a song you do paint a picture, I always felt my songs kinda were like little movies anyway. In fact, I had so many people through the years say ‘Why don’t you do ‘Coat Of Many Colors’ as a movie, I can just see that as a movie, it paints such a picture.’ I always try to paint pictures in my songs, but when you really try to take a song like that, and put it up on a screen, you’ve got to, of course, you’ve got to cast your children, you’ve got to cast the parents, it’s really an emotional kind of thing trying to find the right kids.
I wanted all the kids to be as much like my brothers and sisters, and my aunts and uncles and mama and daddy and my Grandpa Jake — I wanted all the actors to really feel familiar to me. That was a long process, but we did it, and I really think we got a wonderful cast, and putting it up, it’s really emotional to me to see that come to life and to see it played out. I cry a lot, and I laugh a lot, and it’s very meaningful to me. (Editor’s note: Alyvia Alyn Lind plays young Dolly, most of the full cast from the original is returning and available here.)
So you were very involved with the casting process?
Yes, I’ve been involved with everything. Before we ever did it, we spent months trying to put it together. Of course we had a great casting director and staff to bring all these people in. But I was involved in seeing all of the people that played all the parts, and I was very instrumental in making sure we had all the right ones. Sam Haskell, my partner in the production company and my executive producer, we executive produced the show, he spends more time doing that sort of thing and being on the set than I do. But I see all the dailies and I talk to Sam daily. And when I’m not there I watch all the things that they’ve done the day before. But when we were casting it was very important that these people be right, because they’re my family and I wanted my family to be proud of them too.
I noticed Jennifer Nettles, another country star is in the film, I wanted to talk about the choice to have her cast in it?
Well, Jennifer Nettles has always been one of my favorite singers. She’s one of the greatest singers in the business and I admire her very much. She had heard about the fact that we were doing this, and I guess she had a desire to do some acting in addition to her singing. She actually just sent in a tape where she had made her hair dark — and she got her hands on the script — and she did a little video and sent it in. I didn’t even realize it was her when we were watching, and I thought ‘Oh my god that’s mama, that’s mama,’ because I kept thinking we had to have a great mother, because she’s very important. And they said ‘That’s Jennifer Nettles,’ and I said ‘You’re kidding me!’ Sure enough, she just killed it and people just love her. She did such a great job, and she’s even in better in this new movies, in Christmas Of Many Colors: Circle Of Love, she has a bigger part even and even a more emotional part, and she did a great job.
What was it about Christmas in particular that appealed to you to have the follow up film centered around that holiday?
Well I’ve always wanted to have a great Christmas movie, one that would last and kind of be a Christmas classic. Since Coat Of Many Colors did so well, I told NBC and Warner Brothers and Sam Haskell some of my Christmas memories that I thought would make a great movie and they all loved it. So we decided we would make a Christmas story, a Christmas movie. It’s two stories in one, but they’re both true stories based on stories of my life.
One is about the time when we decided to forego any little present we might get, and we decided to work at odd jobs trying to make enough money to get a wedding ring for mama, she’d been married all those years and never had a ring, and the next part of the story is a story about a Christmas miracle that happened when we got snowed in with a blizzard, and trapped in our house for four days and almost died and froze to death, and the Christmas miracle that happened. So, I think people are going to be fascinated with all the different miracles that happen and the fun things that have to do with Christmas.
So the songs that inspired both of these films I know was also taken from your real life experience, can you give a brief summary of “Coat Of Many Colors” for people that aren’t so familiar?
The “Coat Of Many Colors” is a true story from my childhood about a little ragged coat that mama made for me, and in trying to make me proud of it told me the story about Joseph and the coat of many colors from the Bible. The kids all laughed and I was upset and I said ‘We’re poor, and they said my coat was rags!’ and mama said ‘We’re not poor, we’re rich in spirit, we’re rich in things money can’t buy.’ She did not allow us to say we were poor. So it was really about acceptance, it’s about bullying. The whole little song itself was just a movie, just needed to be put on screen. So I think people relate to it because most people have been made fun of, or been made light of about one thing or another. So a lot of people have told me through the years that that song has had a healing quality for them. I think the movies are having the same effect on people.
There’s a new song in this film, too, can you talk about that new one?
“Circle Of Love” represents the birth of Christ and the Christmas story; it kind of represents the ring that we buy for mama, that’s a little circle, and it was there through love. Then there’s the fact that when the Christmas miracle happened, when the snow melted in a circle around our house and the barn, that was another circle of love. It’s just about the circle of family, the circle of love, about Jesus, and the halo, you know, Christ’s halo and the angel halos, it’s all in this circle of love.
What is your favorite part of your particular role in the film?
Well, I get to play the painted lady and what’s not to like about that? I get to wear all that big hair, big old false eyelashes, heavy, thick makeup, red lips, slit up skirt up the side, so I get to look the part. But we did it in good taste because we knew it was a Christmas movie and a faith-based film, but it just goes to show that there’s an angel in everybody because the painted lady actually was a good-hearted person, and she did some good things in the Christmas movie. So it goes to show that God works through people in many different ways.
I know you’re a very uplifting person, and I was wondering if you could give advice to kids who might watch the show, and they don’t have a whole and healthy family like this at Christmas. What would you say to them?
Well, I really think that’s one of the reasons we did this. It’s just about hope, and it’s just about love, and it’s just about acceptance. There are several children in this show that are not my family, they are the Sanders family that do have a hard time. They have a dysfunctional family, and they have lots of problems, and it’s about us embracing them and different things like that. So I think even children that don’t have as good and wholesome of a lifestyle as we portray in my family, through the other children in the school, and different ones doing different things, they’ll all find themselves in it. I think they’ll appreciate the family and the love, and the ones that just know me will just get a kick out of knowing who I am and how I was as a little girl, so they’ll relate to the movie in that respect if nothing else.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9re90HG2dw
I read that a third film based on “Jolene” is in the works, is that still happening?
Yes it is. That is not a faith-based film. Somebody said, people are going to really not like that you’re doing all these good faith-based family films and then you’re doing Jolene. And I said well, too bad, I never promised you a rose garden. I’m a writer first of all, and I can’t make Jolene a faith-based character if she’s not. So, she’s got to be Jolene. She’s got to be the whore she is and I got to play her up for that.
Do you still have the coat that your mom made you all those years ago?
No, you know what, back at that time my mom was making clothes and remaking clothes all the time. Making quilts and bedspreads and other things. So that little coat I’m sure got tore apart when it was done and made into something else. Nobody knew I was going to be a star at that time. I was secretly dreaming it, and that’s what I was hoping to be, but who knew? Mama did make a little replica of a coat that I do have, in the the museum at Dollywood. But that little coat is long gone, except for in our memories and on screen.
Christmas Of Many Colors: Circle Of Love airs tomorrow, 11/30 at 9/8 central on NBC. Check out more clips here.
