Dolly Parton Reveals Only Way She’ll Be Part of Jenifer Aniston’s ‘9 to 5’ Remake

Dolly Parton says that she, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin tried for years to make a follow-up to their 1980 hit comedy 9 to 5, but for various reasons, it never got off the ground.

Jennifer Aniston finally got a green light for a modern-day sequel, and Parton told Huffington Post that “in Jennifer’s story, they wanted us to be involved in it somehow.” But that ain’t happening, the country music legend says. “We have no plans to be in that,” Parton explained. “You know, we’re all older now. We’re not gonna look that good on the big screen. All of us up there with all those beautiful, young, fresh people... so I don’t know.”

Tomlin won’t be in it either, expressing doubt that Aniston’s version would work in the 2020s. “My sympathies are with Jennifer and her writer Diablo (Cody), who is a good writer,” Tomlin said last year. “It’s going to be tough to make it happen.” 

The problem is that the workplace depicted in the original movie no longer exists. “People work from home. They take gig work,” Tomlin explained. “They don’t even know their boss. They’re at home!”

While Tomlin and Parton agree that they could never find the proper script for their own sequel, Parton thinks Aniston and Cody finally cracked the code. “I do wish (Aniston) the best, because the script I read, I thought, was really good and a new and different take that really brings the office up-to-date the way that people live now,” she said.

But just because Parton won’t act in the updated 9 to 5 doesn’t mean her presence won’t be felt. “I told (Aniston), I said, ‘You’re more than welcome to use my song ‘9 to 5,’’” she said. “‘And if you need some additional songs, or if you need the ‘9 to 5’ song rewritten or reworked, you know, to do that.’”

It wouldn’t be the first time Aniston and Parton did a musical collab — they sang together in the 2018 Netflix movie, Dumplin’. Parton’s husband Carl was thrilled that she was going to be working with Aniston, Parton told Jimmy Fallon. “He was more excited that I was going to do a movie with her than he was that I got the chance to write all this music,” she said. “See, I think he kind of fantasizes a threesome with us. I'm serious, he does. But he can't even get it out to pee, much less get it up for three.” 

Parton, who played Doralee in the original 9 to 5, believes Aniston will find a 21st-century version of Dolly who will be perfect for the role. “I’m sure that they’ll find some great person. I don’t have anyone myself in mind for it,” she said. “But there’s somebody ― there’s a Doralee out there.”