In a week’s time, all the women in your life are going to be talking about a little Netflix movie called Dumplin‘.
You’ll hear words like “Jennifer Aniston” and “based on the book” and “Dolly Parton” and “drag queens”. But so that doesn’t sound quite as confusing then as it does now, we’ve thrown together a handy cheat-sheet. That way, you can nod along when your friends (with actual disposable time) talk about it three hours after it’s released.
Here’s what you need to know.
What’s Dumplin’ about?
OK. Sparknotes. Based on the best-selling young adult novel by Julie Murphy, Dumplin’ centres around Willowdean (played by Australian actor Danielle Macdonald), the body-confident teenage daughter of a former beauty queen (Jennifer Aniston), who signs up to her mum’s pageant as a protest against the lack of size diversity.
Who else is in the cast and crew?
Dumplin’ is directed by Anne Fletcher (The Proposal, Step Up), and the screenplay was written by Kristin Hahn, a producer and close friend of Jennifer Aniston.
Other notable on-screen credits include:
Odeya Rush (Lady Bird) as Ellen ‘El’ Dryver.
Dove Cameron (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Liv and Maddie, Descendants) as Bekah Cotter.
Bex Taylor-Klaus (The Killing, Arrow, House of Lies) as Hannah Perez.
Ginger Minge (RuPaul’s Drag Race).
But keep your eyes peeled for relative newcomer Luke Benward in the role of Bo. All signs point to him having a bit of a Noah Centineo moment once Dumplin’ drops. (ICYMI: Noah was the out-of-nowhere heartthrob from To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before).
Take a look at the trailer, and you’ll see what we mean.
Wait, is that new Dolly Parton music we just heard?
Yes. Yes, it is. The undisputed queen of country music wrote and recorded six new songs for the Dumplin’ soundtrack.
Dumplin’s creators originally approached the ‘9 to 5’ singer to license some of her existing work for use in the movie. But she loved the concept so much she dove in.
Parton even roped Jennifer Aniston and Danielle Macdonald into singing on a track called, ‘Push and Pull’.
“They actually did pretty good!” Parton told ELLE. “They don’t claim to be singers. You can always make it sound better if there’s a little note that’s not necessarily right on pitch or whatever.”
When is the Dumplin’ release date?
It’s coming to your laptop/smart TV/phone screen (hopefully not your phone screen. Think of your eye health, pls.) on Friday, December 7, 2018.
What a coincidence, I will definitely be sick that day. *Cough.*
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Top Comments
Oh, and it makes me so sick how many free passes she gets. People talk on here about affairs, homewreckers etc. Aniston was introducing Justin Theroux on the set of Wanderlust as her *boyfriend* while he was still living with Heidi Bivens. His partner of 14, yes, fourteen years. The weekend the news of Aniston and Theroux broke, poor Heidi fled the apartment she shared with Theroux. Within a week after that, Aniston and Theroux had Terry Richardson (if #MeToo is your thing, Google Richardson) do and release intimate and cosy photoshoots less than one....week after Heidi fled the apartment when the Aniston/Theroux affair broke, yes, less than one week. Talk about a sensitivity chip missing? Aniston is just another cheating homewrecker who ruined a 14 year relationship yet why does she continue to get a free pass? Because people buy into her fake persona and manufactured PR hype. Imo she is nothing but a piece of homewrecking trash.
It is another typical pro-Aniston movie that has her as the beautiful (ironic, considering she has to work hard and spend a lot of money just to keep her look, including eating the same chicken salad for 10 years during Friends to keep her Greek hips at bay) heroine who always wins. I am so sick of the industry pushing her on us, she is plain and really is over-rated as a comedic actress. She is an example of mass hype and marketing over talent. The Britney Spears of the acting world. Or the Kardashian of the movie world.
She is famous for being famous. She never does anything really to challenge herself - bar Cake. She is either the 'attractive' pure as the driven snow girl next door in the rom coms who always gets the guy, or she stars opposite unattractive women and comes out looking virtuous and popular. It's patronising and insulting. I would not see this movie if you paid me, let alone take a sick day off. I just wish she would go away for good.