Jessie Mueller says she was numb with terror to take on her latest role. That's surprising because she has been performing for more than a decade and has a Tony Award.
But the role was no ordinary one. Mueller is playing legendary country music star Loretta Lynn in the Lifetime feature movie "Patsy & Loretta," premiering Oct. 19.
The biopic tells of the friendship between successful country singer Patsy Cline and coal miner's daughter Loretta Lynn.
"Playing a real person, then playing a legend, then a musical icon — so there was all of that," Mueller said. "And on top of that, there were the technical aspects. I like rehearsal. I like research. I love that stuff, thrive on it.
"And I was one of the later people to get involved in the project, so I was — just on a technical level — 'Will I have time to do this? Will I learn it? Will I be able to learn the guitar stuff? Will I get on top of the singing stuff that I feel confident about and the interpretation of the songs and get to know her music and her vocal stylings?'
"I was really concerned about the accent," she added. "And I was nervous about not having enough experience in film and television. Truly I feel like God carried me through."
Mueller, 36, comes from an acting family. Both her parents are actors, as are her three siblings.
"I guess I thought at a very early age, kind of like 4 or 5, I thought, 'Wow, if I could do that, maybe that would be really cool and that would be a good thing to invest in.' So I started going to the theater when I was really tiny. I think that amount of crazy that I think any artist kind of has, it's a really interesting life," she said.
