Dale Dickey, known for her gun-toting, backwoods supporting characters in television and film such as “Breaking Bad” and “Winter’s Bone,” occupies practically every frame of “A Love Song.” She plays a woman by herself and her RV, parked at a Colorado campsite. There, she rekindles a relationship with a childhood friend, played by Wes Studi — known for supporting roles in historical American frontier epics such as “Dances with Wolves” and “The Last of the Mohicans.”
The film is quiet and small, with few cast and crew and even fewer spoken words. “I’ve played quite a few motormouths,” Dickey told the Knockturnal on the red carpet for the Tribeca Film Festival screening. This film was something entirely new for Dickey. “This is my first lead role in a film. I was quite insecure, nervous holding a whole film with all the quiet moments. I usually have a lot more dialogue,” she said. “Sometimes I think there’s not enough quiet in films.”
Dickey wasn’t alone departing her pigeonhole. She said of her co-star, “We both have scarred and wrinkled faces. We never get to do romantic leads. We’ve always played really tough fighters. Violent people. This is a kinder, gentler side.”
Studi, even though his role was quite different from what he’s accustomed to playing, said he approached it the same way as his bigger projects. “How big it is, how small it is make’s no difference whatsoever because the basics are always there,” he said.
“A Love Song” was helmed by first time director Max Walker-Silverman and premiered at Sundance. It hits theaters July 29.