In the music-based dramedy film “Joyful Noise,” Grammy winners Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah portray two strong-willed members of a gospel choir who clash with each other over how the choir should be led and other issues that are more personal. Queen Latifah (who is one of the executive producers of “Joyful Noise”) is Vi Rose Hill, who wants the choir to remain traditional. Parton is G.G. Sparrow, who wants the choir to become more modern. Tensions flare between the two divas after the choir's church decides to make Vi Rose its new choir director instead of the more experienced G.G., while the financially strapped choir is desperate to win the national Joyful Noise gospel-choir competition after losing for several years in a row. And things get even more problematic when G.G.’s rebellious, high-school-dropout grandson Randy (played by Jeremy Jordan) begins dating Vi Rose’s responsible teenage daughter, Olivia (played by Keke Palmer), who is also a member of the choir.
“Joyful Noise” is Parton’s first live-action movie since 1992’s “Straight Talk.” (She had a voice role in the 2011 animated film “Gnomeo and Juliet.”) Parton also wrote three original songs for “Joyful Noise,” which features the cast singing a mixture of gospel music and cover versions of songs like Usher’s “Yeah!,” Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed” and Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.” At the "Joyful Noise" press junket in New York City, I sat down with Parton and Queen Latifah to discuss behind-the-scenes stories about making “Joyful Noise,” why it took Parton so long to go back to acting a film, and what they have learned from music that has made them better actors.
What did you learn about gospel music that you hadn’t thought about before making “Joyful Noise”?
Parton: I had never personally had an opportunity to be involved in [gospel music] before, because we didn’t have a choir in our church. We were congregational singers and special singers. It was a great big thrill. I’ve been to a lot of the [gospel] sing-offs, and gospel shows — and I love that.
But the hardest part of this movie, for me, was not the singing. It was trying to learn how to dance. I wore myself out trying to keep up. I was just wore out with that. The singing was fun. And I love the inspiration of singing from a choir like that.
“Joyful Noise” is your first live-action movie as an actress since 1992’s Straight Talk.” Why did you wait 20 years to do another movie?
Parton: I got a lot of stuff, but I hadn’t really been getting anything good. After I did “Straight Talk,” which didn’t do that great, I was in that category of “too old to play younger parts and too young to play older [parts].” I was somewhere in the middle.
I was also off touring, writing and doing my Dollywood stuff. I was totally busy all the time. I didn’t want to do anything unless it was something that was really special. And when [“Joyful Noise”] came along, I thought, “There is no way I cannot do this. It’s so tailor-made for me.”
How do compare working on a movie set to touring?
Parton: I prefer my music. I’m more of a one-nighter kind of person than to do a squat-down job for three months or whatever, but you just kind of have to bring yourself for that.
[Queen Latifah walked in at this point in the interview.]
Dolly, you said that your role in “Joyful Noise” was written for you. What were some of the things that stood out for you in the role?
Parton: The fact that it had to be to do it. I thought, “Oh my Lord! They can’t do this to me! [“Joyful Noise” writer/director Todd Graff] can’t write a character that is so much like me, and then have somebody else do it!” So I had to do it because it was just perfect. I felt like I knew everything about her.
How much of your lines in “Joyful Noise” were improvised and how much were scripted?
Parton: There was some of both. He had a wonderful script. Everything about Todd, he’s qualified to do anything. He’s got great jokes, great humor. But he also allowed us to ad-lib, and he wanted us to, he encouraged us to. If there was something better than he had, like, little lines we would say on the set, he’d say, “Oh, that’s better. We’re keeping that.”
What are some examples of the ad-libbed lines?
Parton: Some of our fight scenes. We [Queen Latifah and I] were both ad-libbing.
Did you ad-lib the self-deprecating lines about your plastic surgery?
Parton: Yeah. I told Todd, “You’re welcome to play off me … Just make us balanced. Don’t let her get ahead of me. Just go ‘tit for tat,’ if you’ll pardon the expression. If she says something about me, then I have to get her back, so make it where our fight scenes are this and that.” I said, “I don’t care what we’re doing.” Todd was afraid that I wouldn’t want to do the fight scene where she was having me in a headlock …
Queen Latifah: I was nervous.
Parton: I said, “Are you crazy? I’m willing to do anything for a laugh. We’re doing a movie here!”
Queen Latifah: I’m like, “You want me to put Dolly Parton in a headlock?”
Does it still surprise you that you did that to Dolly Parton?
Queen Latifah: It still does. I still sometimes have to really stop and pinch myself and say, “That’s Dolly Parton! I know her!”
Parton: They say, “Are you the real Dolly Parton?” I say, “There’s no such thing as the real Dolly Parton.” But whatever … We did have fun.
Queen Latifah: Can you imagine being around this every day, getting to hear her?
What did you think of all the “folksy wisdom” lines that were in “Joyful Noise”?
Parton: Todd, I don’t know where he got a lot of those things. We ad-libbed quite a bit of stuff. I don’t even remember [it] all …
Dolly, you wrote three original songs for the “Joyful Noise” soundtrack: “He’s Everything,” “From Here to the Moon” (which you wrote for your real-life husband, Carl Dean) and “Not Enough (Love).” Can you talk about the process of writing the songs? Did you have to tailor any of the lyrics to fit the movie’s characters?
Parton: I had read the script, and I knew who the characters were. And I had read where [Todd Graff] said he wanted music here or said what the scene was about, to cover all those emotions and feelings. So I just automatically sensed what it should be, by reading it and by being emotionally involved in it. Picturing what I thought the scene would be when I started writing it.
And of course, when you write, you pick someone. Of course, [“From Here to the Moon”] was about my husband in the movie, [played by] Kris Kristofferson. So of course, I would choose the person I’m closest to, so I wrote it about my [real-life] husband. It made it easier and it made it more special. And I really thought that song came out really good. It’s one of my favorites that I’ve ever written in a long, long time.
How often do you write songs?
Queen Latifah: I write pretty often … I have a home studio. Music is what I do for fun. I never get tired of it, so to take a break from [TV and movies], I would go make some music. It’s that kind of thing.
Parton: It’s like therapy.
Queen Latifah: Yeah, it’s very much like therapy.
Parton: I write a little something every day, even though I don’t write a song [every day]. Everything inspires me. I’ll come up with a line, or somebody will say something that will trigger something. Like tonight, I’ll probably go home and write down something, like, just a title …
But sometimes, I’ll write two or three songs a day. And if I’ve got the time, I’d like to se a couple of weeks aside to say, “I’m going on a writing binge.” I used to get to do that more than I have been lately. But then when projects come up like [“Joyful Noise”], I can sit down — I’m a skilled writer, I’ve been doing it all my life — and I can get down to it.
Sometimes when I’m under pressure, if I think somebody is expecting stuff from me, I’ll do better than if I was just left on my own. “I have to look real smart now. I have to try to write something real good because there are a lot of people that are going to look at this!” Like [Queen Latifah] said, we write all the time, one way or another.
Queen Latifah: You write much more than me.
How does the story of “Joyful Noise” resonate with you?
Queen Latifah: For me, growing up, my aunt was a choir director. My mom directs the choir in her church, our little church in Jersey. I’ve grown up going to church. To me, the music kind of connected to me more when I was a little kid than the preaching did — depending on the preaching, because sometimes, the preachers were very theatrical, so being the little actor-to-be that I was more, “Look at how that note went up on that word.” I’m hearing it and visualizing it, and then it started to get into me.
But yeah, it was important that I show up for this film, because I felt like I was representing so many of my family members. And this whole idea of a gospel choir trying to make it through their battles and bring their inspiration to the world, to themselves and to their community, it was just a story that I hadn’t seen told in this way. And I wanted to be part of making it happen, because I’d never had a movie like this either.
It was fun for me. “I’m going to get to sing some songs.” I love doing musicals, and this was the closest I could get to one in this sort of vehicle. And then finding out Dolly was down with the project, I was just over-the-moon about it.
How did your friendship evolve? What did you learn from each other from working together on “Joyful Noise”?
Parton: We’re learning everything every day. We like each other. We learned that we genuinely really do like each other, because sometimes you have to fake it [with other people] when you’ve got a lot of work to do when you do a project. You have to get out and promote it, but it’s nice when you look forward to seeing that person. When we have to do these [interviews], I get a kick out of her when she’s talking. I get a kick out of the kick people seem to get out of us.
Queen Latifah: And I can be quiet and just let her go and just listen.
Can you talk about your experiences as a movie producer?
Parton: I’ve been involved with that with my Sandollar company with [my former manager] Sandy Gallin years ago. We did [the 1991 movie] “Father of the Bride” and we did [The TV series] “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” So I’ve put my name on the Sandollar projects. So we’ve done several things.
Did you two write any songs together?
Queen Latifah: No, not yet.
Parton: We might. This is all new to us. We just had time to do the movie, and now we’re promoting it.
Queen Latifah: Dolly’s been on the road since the movie ended. We’ve just got to grab her somewhere because she’s on the move. I’ve got to catch up to her on that bus. I’ll just have my bus roll up next her. We’ll send a song, wireless, from bus to bus or something, because she’s on the go!
A big part of “Joyful Noise” was about the big performance at the end, when the choir members had a lot at personal stake to win the competition. What have been some performances in your lives that you felt you had a lot at stake personally?
Queen Latifah: Eighth-grade graduation. I felt like I had a lot at stake at that one. It was in front of the show school. I think the probably the real “at stake” performance for me was at the Apollo Theater [in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood]. It was one of my first shows, and if you didn’t rock it, you got booed off the stage. That’s a lot of pressure: the thought of getting booed and everybody in New York City knowing what happened. That was one of them.
And I remember the turntables went dead for a second, so I had to freestyle. I just started rocking, and thank God I made it through. They [the turntables] came back on, and we rocked the show. But that was one of the pretty tough ones from the beginning of my budding career.
What song did you perform at that Apollo Theater show?
Queen Latifah: I only had a couple of singles out, so it was probably “Ladies First.”
Dolly, which of your performances did you feel that you had a lot at stake personally?
Parton: I’ve just been at everything so long, I feel like everything rolls along. I just do whatever projects come along, and I just try and give it my best. You try to always learn from everything. When I do movies, I always insist that I get to have my music in it too, so all of those things are important to me. I’ve been at this 50 years. I started when I was just a kid.
What have you learned as a musician that has helped you as an actor? A lot of actors say that the hardest part of comedy is the timing. Did anything you learn as a musician help you in that respect?
Queen Latifah: I know, for me, it helped with “Living Single,” when I did that sitcom. I didn’t even realize it, because I had just started acting, and was kind of learning on the job, but coming off of this line and that one, it was natural for me. I didn’t realize it at the time until people started to explain it to me: “Your timing is great.”
But I hear things rhythmically like that. So I hear the flow in people’s voices. I just hear that way. I guess other people don’t necessarily hear that way, and it requires a little more effort, but it’s like a natural thing for me.
Music kind of came before my acting career, so I think music has naturally carried itself into my acting career. I know there was a time when I was taking acting lessons from my coach. I had a coach who was teaching me things about acting. There were books that I was reading. “You could think about this if you had to cry or if you had to do that.”
And I could just put on a record, I could just throw a song on my iPod that moves me, and it gets me there. I don’t have to go into who died in my family, or “What if I never have children?” I can just put on this song, and the chords alone, it can be just a few notes, and I’m there. So I knew music has had a profound effect on my acting and lots of different things as well.
Parton: In the early days …. everybody always said I was an actress in my singing, like when I sang “Coat of Many Colors,” because I really, totally act out what I’m singing. I totally, completely get lost in that story. And so the dynamics and [during] the sad part, I actually will cry sometimes when I’m singing.
So I think that helped me a lot when I did [the 1980 movie] “9 to 5.” I’d never done any acting. I’d never seen a movie made. And somebody said to me, “Well, just do it like you do your singing. Talk like you would just talk to me.”
Jane Fonda said, “Just say back what’s on the paper, like we’re having a conversation. How would you say that back to me? And when you do a serious part, do it like you do your singing. Just act it.” So I think [music and acting], they are connected, all that stuff. It’s your emotional self, is pretty much how you do it, I think, from whatever place you do it, whether you’re acting or you’re singing.
Queen Latifah: [She says to Parton] I think it’s you. Not to elaborate too much, but when you talk about taking roles that are that you wouldn’t let anybody else do, I think you bring something to the screen that no one else can bring. There’s only one Dolly Parton. That thing about you that is so special and unique, nobody can get that to work anyway.
Parton: Aw, that’s sweet of you. Thanks! Thank you!
Do you think soundtracks from musicals are making a comeback?
Parton: It seems to be, from the TV shows to the movies, the music, I think, is great. And [“Joyful Noise”], I think is great, with all that joyful stuff coming along. But yeah, there’s a lot of wonderful things out there.
Queen Latifah: I think the return of the musical has helped a lot. It’s helped in television. The return of the musical and the return of dancing have really helped everything in general, because you have shows like “Glee,” you have “So You Think You Can Dance.”
You have all of those things that bring all those different elements of performing — acting, singing, dancing — all together again, and making it a lot easier for it to all sprout. People get to show their gifts in different ways — not just singing or not just acting. All those things, the dance, everything is coming back. And that whole performance element is all connected.
Would you consider doing another movie musical?
Queen Latifah: I would always consider it. I’ve been working on Bessie Smith’s story for while. We have that [in development] over at HBO. Someone just brought me another one recently. To me, if it’s the right vehicle, I would love to do it, because I love music. And if it’s for me to do, I would look at it seriously.
“Joyful Noise” is also about tough times. What helps you through tough times?
Parton: What the movie is about: God, the light. Something that is more positive, believing there’s something greater than us, and that there is hope and there is promise. And I felt that this movie in this day and time was just so special for that, the way people are so down and down-hearted and down-in-the-dumps.
People feel like we’ve just lost all connection with God. This whole world has just gone nuts! It’s like, “Where are the morals and principles and values? What are we clinging to these days? We need something greater than us.”
So I just really just felt for myself that [“Joyful Noise”] was a very uplifting thing for me. It was like good medicine for my own soul, and the fact that it’s to help, hopefully, uplift mankind. But I just think that we should just be praising God a little more than we are, to just glorify Him more.
Queen Latifah: I definitely think we need to lean more on God. And I do think we need to praise, because we need to give it outward. You know, whenever you think you’re in tough circumstances, there’s always somebody who’s in a worse position than you.
For me, I just saw about a hundred kids with cancer two days ago. Who am I to complain about anything? Here these kids are fighting and surviving, and their families are fighting for it, and they’re doing it. And it just made me so humbled and thankful that I could bring a smile to any of their faces.
I think laughter is another thing that helps people through tough times … I didn’t quite realize how broke we were as kids, but my family laughed a lot together. We sat around, and we told stories, and we told jokes. We made each other laugh, and it didn’t cost much.
It wasn’t about buying the newest pair of sneakers. Sometimes I just wanted the sneakers out of the grocery store. These were probably the most inexpensive sneakers. I just wanted the sneakers.
But these are the kinds of things we did to get through those times. And having that and having a belief in God, being able to find joy, despite your circumstances or put yourself outside of yourself, and stop looking inwards and look outwards a little bit really helps to carry us through these times. Giving makes you feel better.
Parton: That’s true.
Queen Latifah: It’s good to kind of do that, even if you don’t have it, even if you’ve got a quarter in your pocket to share with someone else who has nothing really helps.
What’s next for you?
Parton: I’m writing my life story as a [stage] musical. And then I’m actually going to do my life story for a movie that isn’t music-driven. It’s not a musical, but it will have a lot of music in it. I’m actually doing both.
Will you be acting in these projects?
Parton: I doubt it. I may be in some of the parts [closer to the present day] … I can’t do the early parts.
Who would you like to play you in these projects?
Parton: I don’t know.
Queen Latifah: I’m working on a couple of films for our production company. We have a new season of “Single Ladies” on VH1, and there’s a show that we’re working on for CBS. My hands are busy with my producer hat on. And I’m working on a new album. So I’m kind of busy.
Will your new album be pop-jazz like your most recent albums?
Queen Latifah: Not quite.
What about your Queen fashion/beauty line?
Queen Latifah: HSN, I’ll be back on in February [2012], launching some more [from] the line in February. A new perfume.
What’s your best “fast makeup” advice?
Queen Latifah: I’ve got a five-minute beat: a little mascara, a little eyeliner, a little [lip] gloss. And that can get you through. Powder and all that stuff starts after that, but at least if you can get the lips and the eyes, get that eye popping, then that will help. And on a bad hair day, it helps to have a good hat!
For more info: "Joyful Noise" website
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