People just can’t seem to get enough of Dolly Parton. Last year, she charmed her way into the hearts of millions with her television film, Coat of Many Colors. The film introduced us to a young Parton, the hardships her family faced, and how they conquered them all thanks to faith and love.
The first film was so popular that Parton made the decision to move through with a sequel. That sequel, called Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love, debuted on Wednesday night (November 30), and was met with the same enthusiastic response as the first film.
Ratings show that 11.5 million people tuned in to watch Christmas of Many Colors, only an 11% decrease in views from the first movie. Once again, many were moved by the touching, faith-based stories in Parton’s film.
Coat of Many Colors was based on Parton’s song of the same name, which tells the story of a coat her mama sewed for her out of rags. Like its predecessor, Christmas of Many Colors was also based on true stories from Parton’s childhood.
Parton sat down with Nash Country Daily for an interview about the film. While some films based on real-life people oftentimes make up stories for dramatic effect, Parton said Christmas of Many Colors is completely based on her childhood.
“The sequel is other true stories from my life. It’s called ‘Circle of Love’ and the circle of love represents, of course, the family circle and the halo and the crown of thorns and Jesus’ birthday but one of the stories in this is when we as children and my dad all made up money one Christmas to buy mama a wedding ring—she had a house full of kids and never had a wedding ring—that also represents the circle of love.”
Out of all of the stories portrayed in Christmas of Many Colors, there is one that made Parton particularly emotional when she saw it play out on screen. “In the movie, when we are freezing to death and dying—we were so cold,” she said, getting choked up. “So when we got into that part when mama was praying and the tears were froze on our little faces —when I was watching that I just can’t hardly bare it. It’s a good kind of pain though.”
As we’ve learned from the two Coat of Many Colors films, Parton’s life is full of stories that people want to hear. This is something Parton is well-aware of, which is why there may be another Coat of Many Colors movie in the future. As Parton revealed, she hasn’t ruled out the possibility of another film. She even knows what its title will be if it ends up happening!
“If we wind up doing a sequel —which we might— it will be called ‘Life of Many Colors,’” she said, “but it will all be based on different stories that really happened to us at some point along the way.”
Christmas of Many Colors introduced us to Parton’s Uncle Billy, who in real life was the person that helped get her started in country music. So if there is another Coat of Many Colors film, we wonder if it will follow Parton’s journey to country stardom!
We can’t wait to hear if there will be another Coat of Many Colors movie, but at least we have two wonderful films to enjoy in the meantime. In case you missed the debut of Christmas of Many Colors, the movie will be available on DVD on December 20, just in time for Christmas!