Dolly Parton to Appear in New Hallmark Holiday Movie, ‘Christmas at Dollywood’
Dolly Parton's beloved theme park will transform into a winter wonderland for a new Hallmark Christmas movie, Christmas at Dollywood.
Entertainment Tonight confirms that Danica McKellar of The Wonder Years fame is set to play the leading role of Rachel Lewis, a Broadway producer who returns to her native Appalachian region to produce the 20th anniversary installment of the Smoky Mountain Christmas Festival at Dollywood after her holiday-theme Broadway show in New York goes under due to mismanagement by investors.
The new gig finds her working alongside Dollywood's entertainment director Luke Hakman, whose main focus is using the holiday production as a way to advance into a promotion as general manager. But as their working relationship evolves, so does their view on love.
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The legendary country star is set to make a cameo in Christmas at Dollywood, with McKellar hinting at several Parton-related "surprises."
"I grew up watching Dolly Parton on TV. I love her. She is everything. I got to meet her — she is charismatic and gorgeous and lovely, and she's the best person ever," the actress raves.
"Dolly Parton is a bright light who is rich in spirit, kindness and love. Christmas at Dollywood features Danica McKellar in a story about finding love and new beginnings in the most familiar place: home," Michelle Vicary, executive vice president of programming and publicity at Hallmark's parent company Crown Media Family Networks, explains in a statement.
Christmas at Dollywood will be one of 40 holiday films to be featured during Hallmark's signature Countdown to Christmas series in 2019. It follows in the footsteps of Parton's 2016 holiday movie Dolly Parton's Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love that aired on NBC and was the sequel to 2015's Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors based off her award-winning song and book of the same name.
Production of Christmas at Dollywood begins in Tennessee in August 2019, with a premiere date slated for December.
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