Dolly Parton on Adaptation Plans for Novel Debut With James Patterson: “We’re Already in Talks With Some Writers”

Dolly Parton has big plans for Run, Rose, Run.

The country music icon — just nominated for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honors and announced as co-host of the Academy of Country Music Awards on March 7 in Las Vegas — teamed with blockbuster author James Patterson on the novel, which debuts the same day as the ACM Awards. (Parton will also debut a companion album to go along with the novel.) It is described as a “thriller about a young singer-songwriter on the rise and on the run, and determined to do whatever it takes to survive,” and if that sounds ripe for adaptation, like other high-profile titles in Patterson’s catalog, Parton would most certainly agree.

Related Stories

TV

Maureen Ryan on Why 'Burn It Down' Isn't a "Trashy Cash Grab" and the Silence From Networks, Studios Over Allegations

News

Martin Amis, Author of 'London Fields' and 'Money,' Dies at 73

“We’re already in talks with some writers to get that in the works, so [hopefully] in a couple of years we’ll have a movie,” Parton told The Hollywood Reporter recently during a Zoom interview to discuss her latest brand partnership, this one with Duncan Hines on a line of Southern-inspired desserts. “And there’s a character in there that I’m going to get to play, so it’ll be a good movie for me. Hopefully, we’ll use some of those songs [from the companion album] for a movie as well, or I might write a few new ones for that. I’m excited about it. That was one of the best ways I could work with [Patterson] and contribute.”

Parton said that she and Patterson collaborated perfectly on the project as she was not about to slap her byline on the front cover without doing her part. “I’m not the kind of person who will just put my name on something and not really be involved in doing the work. He would send me pages and I would read them, then write songs based on the characters and situations they were in,” she explained. “Every few weeks we’d get together and kind of combine our parts, and it worked out really great. We didn’t mean for it to happen that way — it was never in the deal — but after we started writing it, I thought, well, I’m involved in this, and I’m not doing enough. I’ve got to stay in this book with these characters, so that’s how it worked out for us, and it was great.”

Speaking of working out, Parton, a self-described workaholic, admits she has a busy schedule up ahead. “They’re going to be working my little country butt off to try and get all of this stuff promoted. I’m going to need some cake for my energy.”

A version of this story first appeared in the Feb. 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.