Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton will star in Joyful Noise, a gospel-choir feature for Warner Bros.-based Alcon Entertainment, reports Variety. Todd Graff (Bandslam) will direct from his own screenplay.
The story centers on an unlikely partnership between two strong-minded women who are forced to work together to save a small town gospel choir after budget cuts threaten to shut them down.
The trade says Latifah will play a no-nonsense mother put in charge of the choir after the untimely death of the choir director. Her character’s faced with the challenges of raising two teens while her husband is away in the military and getting the choir ready for a national competition if she hopes to keep the program afloat.
Parton will play the widow of the choir director who had assumed she would take her late husband’s position of leading the choir.
Filming is scheduled to start in January.
