JENNIFER ANISTON AND DOLLY PARTON INTERVIEW EACH OTHER | DUMPLIN
The two stars of the new film, Dumplin, discuss what inspires them and more when they sit down to interview each other for GMA.
The new movie called Dumplin is on Netflix and it stars Jennifer Aniston and Dolly Parton.
Movie Plot
Willowdean Dickson, nicknamed "Dumplin" by her mother, Rosie, and "Will" by everybody else, spends much of her childhood primarily raised and taught by her Aunt Lucy, who introduces Will to Ellen Dryver, who becomes her best friend. Lucy instils a love of Dolly Parton and self-confidence in Will, but six months before Will and Ellen start their final year of high school Lucy dies.
Rosie is a past beauty queen and celebrity in their small, Texan town. Will is often faced with confusion when people find out Rosie is her mother due to Will's more heavyset figure. Due to her mother's various time commitments, Will doesn't spend much time with Rosie who is dependent on Will to accompany her to various events. Will finds pageant season – a big event in their town – a ridiculous hoopla, and finds her mother's participation as pageant judge and the emphasis on beauty as overemphasized and doesn't participate in or encourage either. Rosie remains a judge on the town's annual Miss Teen Bluebonnet Pageant every year, an event girls in town start preparing for months in advance.
Following Lucy's death, Rosie finds difficulty connecting with Will who is resentful and embarrassed by her mother's world.
On Will and Ellen's first day of school, Will is suspended after defending another overweight girl, Millie Mitchelchuk, from a bully. Following this, Will accuses Rosie of being resentful of Will for her looks and is upset when Rosie insinuates that Lucy would still be alive if she had taken better care of her health.
After finding an application to try out for the Miss Teen Bluebonnet Pageant from Lucy when she was 16, Will decides to try out in an act of a "protest in heels". After Will signs up, Millie – who is enthusiastic and pitied by Will – decides to sign up as well. Hannah Perez, an edgy feminist teen at their school, also signs up. Rosie interprets Will's application as a mockery of the pageant industry and warns Will that pageants are harder than she thinks. In preparation for the pageant, Will stubbornly refuses to participate and is angry and jealous of Millie and Ellen's willingness to do so. After telling Ellen to quit, the pair fight, with Ellen upset that Will is so untrusting of her.
Bo, who works with Will at their local diner, asks Will out to watch a meteor shower. The pair connects, and they kiss. When he harmlessly touches her back, she panics and leaves abruptly. Rosie begins to mentor Bekah Cotter, the pageant frontrunner whose mother is less supportive of her and reveals she's going to ask Bo to Sadie Hawkins.
After finding a flyer in Lucy's belongings, Will, Millie, and Hannah visit a Dolly Parton themed drag biker bar that Lucy frequented. She meets a performer named Lee Wayne who was a close friend of Lucy’s, and feels fulfilled by the experience. However, during talent tryouts, Will's choice of performing a magic trick goes poorly, despite promising to practice.
Bo later confesses his feelings to Will, but she is quick to question the legitimacy of them, wondering why a good looking guy like him would like her and claims that they won’t work together in the real world. He's confused as to why she doesn't take his feelings seriously and reveals he declined Bekah's offer to go to the dance. He accuses her of being a coward and too focused on what others think. Will starts purposefully missing the pageant meetings in which Lee is coaching her and her friends. After discovering a brooch of Lucy's she'd been looking for, she is inspired and decides to take the pageant seriously.
At the preliminary event, Rosie is touched and impressed by Will's speech about loyalty, which results in her making up with Ellen. At home, Rosie and Will reconcile over memories of Lucy, where Rosie reveals it was Lucy who instilled the sense of perfectionism in her.
At the pageant, Millie's mother confronts her about lying about her involvement, but Millie's friends have her stand firm about her participation. Will performs a Dolly Parton tribute with her magic tricks and is a success with the crowd. Millie performs a Christian song, which is also a success. While Rosie is overwhelmed with pride, she is forced to disqualify Will due to costume and song modifications made without her approval and in order not to be seen as making an exception for her daughter.
After Ellen's boyfriend is unable to escort her for the formal wear presentation, Will does so, as no rule prohibits a disqualified contestant from escorting a participating one. Bekah wins the pageant queen title as expected, but Millie is awarded the first runner up to everyone's surprise and joy. Will leaves and reconciles with Bo, and the two share a kiss.
The movie ends with Will and her friends taking Rosie and Millie's mother to the bar where Aunt Lucy brought so much joy to everyone.