Dolly Parton originally rejected the use of I Will Always Love You in TV series Pam & Tommy.
In an interview for IndieWire, music supervisor Amanda Thomas revealed that the country music icon initially didn’t clear the use of her 1973 classic for the soundtrack of the final episode of the Hulu show about Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s marriage.
“Dolly was one that was actually denied, initially. She’s certainly very open to things. She’s open for the right things,” Amanda commented, before recalling how she built a case to present to Dolly and her team. “We went back and we recontextualised the whole thing. And we’re like, ‘Here’s the story we’re trying to tell. We are telling this narrative from Pamela’s perspective, as someone who got the short end of the stick and was not done well by the men in her life.’ (Pamela’s) in a place where she can look back fondly on this time in her life, and Tommy being a part of that time, but from a point of view that she’s moved on from it and she’s grown from it. The song really speaks to that in a cool way.”
Eventually, Dolly agreed to the usage, with Amanda and showrunner Robert Siegel thrilled with the end result.
“When it cleared, Rob was texting me like, ‘I heard Dolly cleared?’ And I was like, ‘Yes, she approved.’ And he was like, ‘Oh my God, thank you so much. That song is probably the most important song,'” she said.
I Will Always Love You appears in the epilogue and during the credits of the final episode.
Pam & Tommy, featuring Lily James and Sebastian Stan, is now available to stream.
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