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Dolly Parton And Hallmark Are Teaming Up To Make A Christmas Movie

Posted at 12:52 PM, Jul 17, 2019
and last updated 2020-07-09 16:24:25-04

If you can’t make it to Dollywood this holiday season, you will be able to visit vicariously through a new Hallmark movie.

Country music icon Dolly Parton teamed up with the Hallmark Channel to make “Christmas at Dollywood,” starring actress Danica McKellar of “Wonder Years” fame. ET Online reports that Parton will make a special appearance in the movie.

Filming begins at the park in August, and “Christmas at Dollywood” will air on the Hallmark Channel during the network’s annual Countdown to Christmas. The nine-week event starts on Oct. 25 and runs through New Year’s Day.

dolly parton photo
Getty Images | Kevin Winter

McKellar’s character is named Rachel Lewis, and she is a single mom and Broadway producer. She learns investors mismanaged her holiday theatrical into bankruptcy and the show closes before it even opens.

Lewis then gets an opportunity to produce a show for the Smoky Mountain Christmas Festival at Dollywood, during which she works with someone with whom she builds a romantic relationship. (Sounds like a Hallmark movie, for sure!)

Other people who will appear in the Dollywood-based film include McKellar’s son, Draco, and her mom, Mahaila. Both have cameos, ET Online reports.

Getty Images

Dollywood definitely looks like a place we’d like to be for Smokey Mountain Christmas, as seen in this YouTube video by In The Loop:

Hallmark Holidays

Hallmark plans to air 40 Christmas movies this season in a tribute to 10 years of Countdown to Christmas. Many are originals, and some of the new Christmas movies have aired in July. (“Christmas in July,” get it?)

If you need even more Hallmark Channel, there’s a podcast you can listen to called “Bubbly Sesh” that gives recaps and previews of the movies aired on TV.

The Hallmark Channel is so devoted to the holidays that last year it teamed up with SiriusXM to launch a holiday radio station. Listeners could subscribe to Sirius for $10.99 a month, and on Hallmark Channel Radio they could hear programming from favorite Hallmark Channel stars and information about — you guessed it — Christmas movies.

Not surprisingly, the channel’s website isso Christmas-y right now:

Hallmark Channel

If you’re ready to get in the Christmas spirit, you can get Christmas movie previews and behind-the-scenes videos, purchase Hallmark holiday keepsakes, get recipes and DIY ideas there, too.

It’s safe to say the Hallmark Channel is a standout brand for all-things Christmas!

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