Terry Morrow: Dolly Parton does her happy dance for 'Joyful Noise'

Photo by Van Redin, ©2011 Alcon Film Fund, LLC

Dolly Parton (seen here with costars Keke Palmer, back center, and Queen Latifah, center) says the dance scenes for "Joyful Noise" were especially difficult because, "I call it that 'white trash rhythm.' We clapped on the off-beat."

Photo by Van Redin

Dolly Parton plays G.G. Sparrow in "Joyful Noise," out today.

Dolly Parton learned a couple of new tricks while making "Joyful Noise," due out today and her first feature film in 20 years.

One was how to dance.

The other was how to fight.

Like the country gal she is, she feared the dancing part more than fighting.

After all, she cracks, "I have no rhythm. I'm not a dancer. That was the hardest part for me, doing the moves.

"You have to move with the group and move by yourself. It was one of the biggest challenges for me so far. I'm musical but not that rhythmic."

Her problem with the rhythm? She says she naturally moves on the wrong beat.

"I call it that 'white trash rhythm.' We clapped on the off-beat," she says. "For a dancer, you have to move on the right beat. Trust me. It was a challenge. I was glad to be done with that part. I got it done. But I'm not ready to go on 'Dancing with the Stars.' I'm not that good.

"Only tall grass could make me dance."

"Joyful Noise" casts Parton as G.G. Sparrow, a sassy widow whose late husband ran a show choir. After his death, she assumes she'll be taking his place.

Instead, rival Vi Rose Hill (Queen Latifah) is appointed to the position but soon needs G.G.'s help when the choir starts falling apart.

"Joyful Noise" is a broad comedy, a family film packed with pop-flavored spiritually themed numbers. Parton wrote four songs for the soundtrack.

Keke Palmer plays Queen Latifah's daughter, Olivia, and Jeremy Jordan is Randy, who is G.G.'s grandson. Olivia and Randy have a star-crossed romance, only adding to the complex relationship between G.G. and Vi Rose.

In one scene, G.G. and Vi Rose end up wrestling in the middle of a diner. G.G. literally bares her claw-like nails, and Vi Rose puts her in a headlock.

The two roll around and sling spaghetti at each other.

Parton discovered there was an art to the tussle.

"The fight scenes were choreographed, too. You have to know when to stop because you can't just grunt and fight the whole scene and into other people's lines," Parton says.

"It was so much fun. Even all the throwing of the water and the bread and the spaghetti has to be timed out for the camera's sake. I enjoyed doing it, though. That day was a lot of fun.

"I was sliding around on a slippery floor and had spaghetti all over me. It was a belly laugh. We had (stuff) everywhere."

The fight scene took a day and a half to film, which only lasts a couple of minutes at best on screen.

Parton ranks "Joyful Noise" right up there on her list of her favorite film projects. Topping her list is when she made "9 to 5" — the vehicle that launched her film career. She often tells the tale of how green she was then: Parton knew so little about making a movie that she memorized the whole script — even the other actors' lines.

And although she was part of the ensemble in "Steel Magnolias," which co-starred Julia Roberts and Shirley Mac- Laine, Parton savors her time on "Joyful Noise" even more.

"('Joyful Noise') was such an enriching, uplifting experience," she says. "It reminded me of when I made '9 to 5.'

"All the elements were perfect. All the people were perfect. Everything just came together in just the right way."

Parton has made about half a dozen films — not including cameos where she played herself — outside of "Joyful Noise." Only "9 to 5" and "Steel Magnolias" were critically praised and earned hit status at the box office.

"Rhinestone," which she made with Sylvester Stallone, "Straight Talk" that had her opposite James Woods and "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" co-starring Burt Reynolds drew mixed reviews from critics and audiences.

Still, Parton stands behind her big-screen work, saying, "They were good movies. I am proud of every one of them."

If that's so, why hasn't Parton made a movie in nearly two decades? She says she sort of aged out of the casting system.

"I was too old to play somebody's mother and too young to play their grandmother. That happens sometimes to actresses after they get to be a certain age," says the 66-year-old Sevier County native. "You have to grow into a certain age group sometimes.""Joyful Noise" has her playing — for the first time, she says — a grandmother on screen.

Over the years, Parton had been handed a lot of lousy scripts and didn't want to do any of them. So she waited for the right role to come along.

Meanwhile, Parton is now writing a film script based on her own life's story. She's not sure who'll play her yet, though Reese Witherspoon and Kristen Chenoweth have said they want the part.

Parton envisions Chenoweth being perfect for the role if it is translated into a Broadway musical (another of Parton's dreams).

She plans to take 2012 off from touring so she can devote more time to writing the script. In March, Parton will return to East Tennessee, as she always does, to re-open Dollywood for its 2012 season.

"It'll be a year of writing and developing," Parton says, "and that's enough to keep me busy."

© 2012, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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