Who Should Play Dolly Parton in a Biopic? This A-List Country Music Singer’s Name ‘Keeps Coming Up’

The race to play Dolly Parton is on! Carrie Underwood is currently the hot favorite to portray the beloved country music legend in a biopic, but still faces plenty of competition, a source tells Examiner.

“The truly global reaction to Dolly’s passing proves one thing: a properly mounted biopic of her life featuring her most famous music would be a massive success, and her heirs have the opportunity to cement her legacy in grand fashion,” says the source.

As Examiner previously reported, the beloved “Jolene” singer, 80, passed away on Tuesday, August 25, following a brief battle with cancer, prompting an outpouring of grief and tributes from family, friends and famous fans.

“A big screen treatment would focus firmly on Dolly’s adult career, her rise to fame and business success and her unlikely Hollywood career that began in the early eighties,” reveals the source, adding that Underwood, 43, is the “one name that keeps coming up” but that “there are plenty of other famous singer-actresses who could pull this off,” including in the form of Sabrina Carpenter, Sydney Sweeney and Hilary Duff.

At the end of the day, “Dolly’s survivors will have the final say on who plays her, but the first step for the family is to get the project set up and scripted under the supervision of a Hollywood studio,” says the source. “The family would be wise to connect themselves with a strong producer in the biopic genre, and the top name right now is Graham King.”

The Oscar-winning producer, 64, is behind the Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, and the box office record-breaking Michael Jackson film, Michael.

“A movie covering Dolly’s career has similar potential for success, but this kind of movie requires a careful touch,” the source notes. “There are no do-overs in this genre and even Michael took more than four years and tons of reshoots to pull together a version of the movie that played well with fans around the world.”