In the documentary Hollywood to Dollywood, twin Lane brothers, Gary and Larry, are on a mission: to meet Dolly Parton, their childhood icon, and ask her to star in a screenplay they’ve written with a role just for her.

Now the twins have a new mission: to be nominated for an Oscar! To that end, their documentary, which chronicles their journey to connect with the incredible singer-songwriter, is playing a limited run theater here in New York City (it plays in Los Angeles next week.)

TV DivaGal sat down with the brothers for some conversation to find out more about their film and their own personal life revelations while making it.

Whose idea was it to write a screenplay for Dolly?

Gary: We write scripts together, and in this particular one called Full Circle, we wrote a part just for Dolly. We wrote it over the course of four years, and then we wanted to get it to her.

Larry: We know every April she opens her park Dollywood, and she’s always there. I said, “Why don’t we just do a cross country and film our journey to her. That’s how the documentary got started.

What’s the movie Full Circle about?

Gary: We love the premise of Steel Magnolias, because it’s a big female ensemble cast, but they were all Southern … We wanted to put together women for all different walks of life, all ages that each have issues their dealing with in life. They come to this self-help retreat and form these bonds that carry on through the story.

Why did you decide to document your journey to meet Dolly?

Larry: That was kind of like our biggest dream, to hand our script to Dolly. We just started out with a little idea of getting an RV, getting someone to film it – just a little documentary. But along the way we decided we were going to tell our story and be true to who we are, growing up in the South and both being gay. We met so many incredible people along the way. It’s what’s really exploded around the world, and it’s now bringing awareness to the screenplay.

Do you know if she’s seen your documentary?

Gary: We had to get her involved from the beginning because we have 17 of her songs in the movie. She watched it and loved it and approved her image for the poster. We even got two of her unreleased songs in the movie. A reporter asked her about being a part of the of the film during a press conference and she said, “Oh, they are just the sweetest ‘lil boys. They love me and I love them.”

Larry: She said she was proud to be a part of it.

What is the message that you hope your documentary gets across to people?

Larry: When we were in Shreveport, La., there was a young man who sat beside us during the screening. At the end, the lady right in front of us stood up and said, “This is my son John, and he just came out to us a few days ago and he wanted to see your movie” We know we’ve helped a lot of people. Our message is that we want everybody to be accepting of who they are and be proud of who we are.

So is the screenplay actually going to go into production?

Gary: Lance Black, he won the Oscar for Milk, helped us edit it. We couldn’t get a better backing from him to get it out to different studios … We really hope we can get her to attach to it because she’s followed the journey, and her management is considering releasing a soundtrack and letting all the proceeds go to her Imagination Library, her literacy program.

Gary: And 10 percent of every film we sell goes to her Imagination Library.

Hollywood to Dollywood, playing at NYC’s Quad Cinema through Sept 6. To get your own copy, visit Hollywood2Dollywood.com.

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