Mary Lane Haskell (standing in a blue dress) portrays Dolly Parton’s childhood teacher in “Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors.” The blonde girl wearing the coat of many colors is Alyvia ‘Alyn’ Lind, who plays 9-year-old Dolly. (Courtesy)
By M. Scott Morris
Daily Journal
Music icon Dolly Parton got help from her friends to make a television movie about her song, “Coat of Many Colors.”
“Dolly has been like my Aunt Dolly since I was probably 8 years old,” Mary Lane Haskell said during a phone interview from Los Angeles, “so being able to be a part of telling her story was so special.”
Mary Lane worked in front of the cameras for the movie, which will debut at 8 p.m. Thursday on NBC, while her father, Sam Haskell, was busy behind the scenes.
“My heart and soul was in ‘Coat of Many Colors,’” Sam said. “This was Dolly’s very personal story. I wanted to make sure every frame is right.”
An Amory native and Oxford resident, Sam was Parton’s agent when he worked in Hollywood. The pair maintained their connection after he retired as executive vice president and worldwide head of television for William Morris Agency.
Now he has a development deal with Warner Bros., and “Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors” is the first of four made-for-TV movies based on the singer’s music.
The deal was announced in January, and during a 20-day shoot in August and September, the town of Conyers, Georgia, stood in for Parton’s childhood home in the Great Smoky Mountains.
“We’re making our Georgia location look like Tennessee,” Sam said. “We have an incredible special effects designer who has brought in the Smoky Mountains and a lot of things to make it feel like Tennessee.”
The story focuses on Parton’s life in the 1950s. She was 9 years old when her family endured a tragic loss. Mary Lane was cast as a teacher who helps young Dolly during that difficult time.
While Oxford resident Sam Haskell was working behind the scenes on “Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors” in Conyers, Georgia, he also was preparing for the 95th edition of the Miss America Pageant in New Jersey. “I would spend four days a week in Georgia and three days a week in Atlantic City,” he said. “I knew every stewardess from Atlanta to Philadelphia.” (Courtesy)
PARTON
“Dolly told me she remembered her teacher being very dramatic and very animated,” Mary Lane said. “When you have a roomful of young kids, you have to command their attention somehow. That was fun to play with.”
Mary Lane also realized she could trust Parton’s memory only so far.
“I had to remember that was the memory of a young girl,” she said, “and I think all of us would remember our elementary school teachers as a lot bigger than they were because we were so much smaller.”
Even if Miss Moody isn’t a larger-than-life person, she has a big impact on Dolly’s life.
“One of the plot points in ‘Coat of Many Colors’ is that Dolly Parton, as a little 9-year-old elementary school student, writes an essay that a lot of her fellow classmates don’t understand. They think she’s being arrogant,” Mary Lane said. “They think she’s being full of herself, but her teacher recognizes her talent for writing and encourages her and tells her she has talent and she has promise. I like to think Dolly’s real teacher did encourage her in that way.”
Mary Lane, 26, grew up around famous people. Some started out as her dad’s clients and became family friends. She accompanied many of them during biannual trips to Amory for the “Stars Over Mississippi” benefits her father organized.
But she still can get excited when meeting a celebrity.
“Jennifer Nettles, whom I have been a super fan of, plays Dolly’s mother,” Mary Lane said. “I love Sugarland, so to be able to meet her and work with her was so wonderful. She fell right into it.”
The cast also includes Ricky Schroder as Dolly’s father, and Gerald McRaney as her grandfather.
It took a nationwide hunt to find the right person to play 9-year-old Dolly. Sam, whose clients have included Whoopi Goldberg, Ray Romano, Debbie Allen and Marilu Henner, had great things to say about the young actress chosen for the pivotal role.
“Our little Dolly, Alyvia Alyn Lind, is a superstar,” he said. “I hope I live long enough to see what happens to that child.”
Mary Lane’s work on the film ended in September, when shooting wrapped. She said it was tough to leave Conyers.
“I’m telling you, by the end of it, we were just all a wreck because no one wanted to go home,” she said. “No one wanted to say goodbye. We really had become a family.”
Actor Gerald McRaney has been a Haskell family friend for years, and Mary Lane Haskell got to work with him on “Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors,” which will air on NBC at 8 p.m. Thursday. (Courtesy)
As executive producer, Sam still had more to do, including working with the composer to score the movie.
“I have sat in editing, down in that editing hole, for weeks,” he said. “I have made a lot of choices in terms of music and the score. I even helped coach our little Dolly before she pre-recorded to get her singing just right in terms of the way Dolly sounded as a child.”
Sam said he felt a personal responsibility to Parton when bringing the story behind “Coat of Many Colors” to the small screen, and he believes all of the attention to detail has paid off.
“The movie is beautiful,” he said, “and I’m so, so proud of it.”
He’s also proud of his daughter’s contribution as Miss Moody.
“Mary Lane is wonderful,” he said. “Everybody’s wonderful, down to the smallest part.”
From the beginning, the cast and crew knew they were making a throwback. “Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors” is meant to be an old-school, heart-warming movie of the week.
As Mary Lane said, “It’s the kind of movie the whole family can sit down on a Thursday night and watch together. Whether it’s grandma or the baby who’s 5 years old, this movie is going to speak to everyone. This is a story of faith and a story of family.”
Sam’s a busy man with numerous projects he hopes to bring to the world’s TV, computer, tablet and phone screens in the years ahead.
But he plans to slow down in Oxford at 8 p.m. Thursday to watch Dolly’s story.
“We will probably just have a few close friends over. It won’t be any elaborate deal,” he said. “We will enjoy it as a family at home.”
scott.morris@journalinc.com
Twitter: @mscottmorris