Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love, the highly anticipated sequel to last year’s holiday flick, Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors, premieres November 30. The special follows the life of young Dolly Parton, as she and her family struggle through a trying winter in the Tennessee mountains. With the odds stacked against them, the family bands together in deep love and faith, and experiences the Christmas miracle of a lifetime.
Kelli Berglund plays oldest Parton sibling Willadeene in the film. The 20-year-old actress is straying from her Disney roots, where she stars in the franchise’s hit TV show Lab Rats. “It’s always really interesting transitioning from Disney to anything else,” she said. “But over everything I was just excited.”
Willadeene Parton was a role that Berglund was humbled to play. “I would love to meet the real Willadeene one day,” she said of Dolly’s eldest sister. “It’s a really great family movie and holiday movie, and it’s an honor to be portraying Dolly Parton’s life in this way.”
Parade spoke with Kelli Berglund on channeling Willadeene, her favorite scene and the importance of family.
What’s the main premise of Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love?
It’s a continuation of the first film, Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors, and it’s a story about her life growing up and the transition from how she was as a little girl and what that life was like to Dolly Parton now. The film takes place during Christmastime, and I play the oldest Parton sibling. It’s a family of eight kids—there’s so many kids—and the family is extremely poor. For Christmas, our dad wants to get our mom a ring, because when they got married he couldn’t afford one.
This special emphasizes the importance of family and faith. How do those things connect to you personally?
Family is my No. 1 thing in life, so I relate very well to that. And the same goes for Dolly Parton—she’s always been extremely close with her family and they still are. It was cool that I got to do a movie like that, because I understand family values and being close with your family. It wasn’t a stretch to have to play a sister in a loving family, because I am a sister in a very loving family. (laughs)
What is Willadeene Parton’s role in the family?
She’s the oldest sibling in the family, so she takes on almost a second-mother type of role, because it is very hard for her mom and dad to raise that many kids. She steps in and helps her mom in that sense. She’s very motherly and very passionate about keeping the love in the family. She’s very strong-willed as well.
Does her relationship with Dolly follow this pattern?
Definitely. She loves all the kids very much, especially Dolly. She’s so excited about everything that Dolly loves and wants to pursue. All she [Dolly] wants to do is be a star, and Willadeene is super supportive of that. She loves watching Dolly sing and do what she loves. So yes, she has a really good relationship with her. But, when she needs to step in and scold the kids a little bit she does that as well, but it’s all in good love.
How did you feel when meeting Dolly Parton?
Getting to meet Dolly Parton was awesome. It was pretty unreal—she’s just a legend. To be able to meet her and to thank her for having me in this film was an amazing experience.
What was your favorite part about acting in this film?
There were a few scenes that we filmed that I really loved. There’s a scene where I’m crying with my mom. I’m so distraught, and we think that we’re not going to make it through the winter because we don’t have enough warmth and food. It’s really tragic. So, it was really cool to play that dramatic role for a second, because I haven’t been able to do a ton of that in my career so far and I love getting emotional in front of the camera.
You haven’t portrayed a real-life person before in your career. Was that challenging?
It was really exciting. Obviously there’s that sense of, “Oh, I want to make sure that this is actually what it was like to grow up with Willadeene.” To be able to actually talk to one of Dolly Parton’s siblings—Stella who’s in the film as well—helped me a lot. I was able to talk to her when we were just sitting on set about what it was like growing up, and she was showing me pictures of the family. That was a really good insight. It’s also different because it was a period piece—it took place in the ‘50s.
You weren’t alive during Dolly Parton’s heyday. What things did you do to channel your character?
I did a lot of practicing with my country accent, because it had to be believable. I did a lot of research on Dolly, and watched the first movie. It’s hard because I don’t know her and to get the chance to play her older sister is quite interesting, because it’s a very intimate role. Luckily it was pretty early on [during filming] where I sat and talked to Stella Parton for a while, so I could apply what she was telling me about Willadeene to the rest of the film.
This is your first project outside of Disney. Was that nerve-wracking for you to be out of your comfort zone?
I think it was the perfect project to do outside of Disney as my first major role that people are going to see. It’s nothing shocking—honestly, you could put Disney’s name on it and I would believe it was a Disney movie. It’s still very much appropriate to my audience that has been watching Lab Rats. But I do like how in a very smart way, for my career and my acting, it shows a different side of my acting. It doesn’t have to be a crazy scandalous thing to show another side of Kelli and what she can do. The emotional stuff and the drama… that’s something that Disney isn’t so adamant on.
Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love premieres Wednesday, November 30 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.
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