Dolly Parton’s Netflix Christmas Movie Earns 2 Emmy Nominations

Dolly Parton had reason to celebrate this week, as her Netflix holiday film, Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square, earned two nominations at the 2021 Emmy Awards. The film, which was released in November, was nominated for Outstanding Television Movie and Outstanding Choreography for Scripted Programming.

In the former category, it is up against Oslo, Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia, Sylvie’s Love and Uncle Frank. Parton celebrated the news by sharing a graphic detailing the nominations on Twitter and encouraging her fans to celebrate the achievement by watching the movie for a bit of Christmas in July. “#ChristmasOntheSquare is up for two @TelevisionAcad #Emmy nominations!” she wrote. “Feel the love of Christmas in July, and stream today on @netflixfamily.” Legendary choreographer Debbie Allen choreographed the film, which stars Christine Baranski as Regina Fuller, a Scrooge-type “wealthy and unpleasant woman” who returns to her hometown after her father’s death to evict everyone just before the holiday season.

Parton previously worked with Netflix on the movie Dumplin’ and the series Heartstrings, which was an anthology-style set of episodes inspired by some of Parton’s hit songs. The “These Old Bones” episode of Heartstrings was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Television Movie last year, and in 2016, her Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love, which aired on NBC, was also nominated in the same category. In 1978, Parton was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for her work in the television special Cher…Special, where she performed her hit “Two Doors Down” and teamed with Cher and Rod Stewart.

Parton’s work with Netflix is one of the many forays into film she has made in her career — she has appeared in 12 theatrically released films, starting with 1980’s 9 to 5, for which she wrote the theme song, which was nominated for an Oscar and a Grammy. Other movies include Steel Magnolias, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Joyful Noise.