Who Will Play Dolly Parton in a Movie? Our Casting Picks

Carrie has the pipes. Miley has the connection. But who could give us the whole Dolly?

Who will play Dolly Parton in a movie? We haven’t verified an official announcement naming the lead. But if we’re putting together a Dolly Parton biopic dream cast, Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus, Kristin Chenoweth, and Kacey Musgraves all deserve a look.

We also have a fifth contender: Lainey Wilson. And yes, we’ve saved a wildcard for the end.

You can have a pretty good argument about this before anybody even finishes saying “Jolene.” Some fans will pick the biggest voice. Others will want the closest resemblance. We’re looking for the woman who can make us believe the songs, the jokes, and the quieter moments all come from the same person.

Dolly gives an actress plenty to work with. The woman who wrote “Coat of Many Colors” could put a whole childhood into a song. “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” give us two very different kinds of heartache. That’s a lot of feeling to get across before we even start talking about the hair. ^{[1] [2]}

A quick casting check: These are our picks, not a confirmed studio shortlist. We haven’t verified that any of these women have auditioned or received an offer. The announced cast of DOLLY: A True Original Musical is for the Broadway production, a separate project. ^[3]

Could Carrie Underwood play Dolly Parton?

Let’s start with Carrie, because we know somebody was already about to bring her up.

The voice gets her into the conversation immediately. We can picture her handling a big musical scene and making it feel like the moment the whole movie has been building toward.

She also has a musical acting credit worth remembering: Carrie played Maria in NBC’s 2013 production of The Sound of Music Live! That doesn’t answer every question about playing Dolly, but it belongs in the discussion. ^[4]

Our screen test would be something much smaller than a showstopper. Give her a scene where Dolly has to smile through somebody talking down to her. Let us see the hurt, the calculation, and the decision about what to say next.

Dolly’s warmth comes with a backbone. Whoever plays her has to give us both.

Our take: Carrie makes a strong musical case. We’d want the quiet scenes to make just as strong an impression.

Could Miley Cyrus play her godmother, Dolly Parton?

Miley brings a connection that makes this one especially interesting. Dolly was her godmother, and the two recorded together. That gives the idea some real emotional weight. ^[5]

There’s a musical question here, too. To our ears, Miley’s huskier sound and Dolly’s lighter, brighter delivery take different paths into a song. We’d be curious to hear how Miley would approach that difference without turning every line into an imitation.

Then there’s the personality. We can imagine her finding Dolly’s mischievous side: the little grin that tells you she knows exactly what she just said.

The challenge would be getting us so caught up in the story that we stop thinking about the family connection and simply follow the character.

Our take: Miley is our most intriguing pick for the personal connection. We’d still want to see the transformation on screen.

Kristin Chenoweth: could comic timing win the role?

If you’re casting Dolly, please remember to cast somebody who can land a joke.

That’s where Kristin gets our attention. She originated Glinda in Wicked, so there’s a substantial musical theater background behind this suggestion. ^[6]

For us, the appeal is the chance to bring humor and feeling to the same scene. Dolly could make people laugh, then turn around and sing something that had them reaching for a tissue.

We’d want Kristin’s audition to make that turn. Let the joke land. Then let the room get quiet without making it feel as though we’ve suddenly switched movies.

The years covered by the script would matter. If the movie follows several decades, casting different performers for different stages of Dolly’s life could make sense.

Our take: Kristin is the choice we’d watch closely for the combination of musical skill, humor, and emotional timing.

Kacey Musgraves: a Dolly Parton biopic built around the songwriter?

Photo: Leobutterfly13 · CC0 1.0.

Kacey is the pick that makes us ask what kind of movie we actually want.

Of course we want the performances. But give us some time with the songwriter, too. Let us see somebody trying out a line, putting it aside, and finding the words that finally make a song work.

That’s the direction we’d be curious to explore with Kacey. To our ears, there’s room in her approach for a raised eyebrow, a little hurt, and a thought she doesn’t need to underline.

We’d want to know whether she could carry that intimacy into Dolly’s bigger public moments. An understated scene can tell us plenty, but this role also needs somebody who can light up a room.

Our take: Kacey is the pick we’d explore for a film that spends real time with Dolly’s writing and the decisions behind the career.

Lainey Wilson: can a modern country storyteller play Dolly?

Lainey Wilson has a voice and a country-music identity of her own, which is exactly why she makes this list. We would be interested in seeing her approach Dolly as a fully realized character rather than trying to copy every familiar mannerism.

Our audition scene would be a small one: a young songwriter being underestimated, then finding the perfect line to say what she feels. Lainey’s strength as a performer gives us reason to be curious. A lead role in a biopic, though, would also test the demands of acting across several ages and moods.

Our take: Lainey is our fifth dream-cast pick for the warmth, musical storytelling and contemporary country audience she brings. No movie casting offer or audition has been verified.

Who gets our vote to play Dolly?

If we were setting up the auditions, Carrie and Miley would be the first two names we’d call. Then we’d want to see what Kristin could do with a funny scene and what Kacey and Lainey could bring to quieter ones.

We’d give all five the same test: one song, one joke, and one scene where Dolly has to hold her ground.

That’s where we think the answer would start to show itself. Country fans can hear when somebody believes a song. We’d want to feel that same belief in the acting.

Before you settle on your favorite, though, there’s one more name to consider.