“A Love Song” premieres on August 12 and “A League of Their Own” begins streaming on Amazon Prime on August 5.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — From “Winter’s Bone” to “My Name is Earl,” Knoxville native Dale Dickey is known for tough, gritty roles. But she has a softer side in her latest film, “A Love Song.”
Dickey talked about that vulnerability with 10News anchor Beth Haynes, as well as other projects in the queue.
Dale Dickey’s latest film, “A Love Song,” is a love story that showcases an intimate, softer side of the Knoxville native and her co-star Wes Studi.
“We’ve both spent decades playing really violent, tough people,” Dickey said. “We have some weathered faces, but he wanted to show us in a softer light.”
The creator, 27-year-old filmmaker Max Walker Silverman, was very persuasive.
“Max wrote me this beautiful love letter asking me to make his movie. He wrote this role for me and had seen me in Winter’s Bone and had followed my career. It’s very flattering for some young artists to admire your work,” Dickey said.
The film features two childhood favorite widows, who reconnect in solitude in scenic Colorado.
“We would drive 25 minutes to sunset and be in the bright sun all day. Yeah, it was pretty cool,” Dickey said.
It was Dickey’s first role during the pandemic and may relate to her character, Fay.
“Fay is a woman who enjoys solitude and camping and lives very little off the grid, and I kind of enjoy that. With all the hectic pace of Los Angeles, my husband, Steve, and I go camping all the time. I could live like Faye, maybe not quite,” she said.
While “A Love Story” deals with loneliness and sadness, country music plays a secondary role in the film.
“Country music is the songs of life,” Dickey said.
The genre is second nature to this East Tennessean, but an on-screen kiss on film was a first for Dale.
“We’re both over the hill, so to speak. We were both a little nervous. We’re both happily married and we got along great, it was just, it was kind of weird,” he said.
But Dickie’s vulnerability has paid off. The film is garnering many awards.
“After I saw the movie, finally, some of the reviews started coming in from Sundance, I had this sigh of relief, I didn’t screw up his movie. I’m so happy,” she said.
But she’s definitely not like her character in the Amazon Prime reboot of “A League of Their Own.” The eight-episode series is a throwback to the hit 90s film starring Tom Hanks and Geena Davis.
RELATED: Knoxville actress to star in ‘A League of Their Own’ series
“I played the girls’ chaperone, who, by the way, I could never do that in real life, handle these girls. But the attendants were their everything. They’ve done everything for them on the tours so it’s an important role,” he said.
It was a fun role for Dickey with 40s style curls.
“It’s very funny. It’s very moving. Very baseball, this is about women who wanted to play baseball, but it extends to the social issues of the time, the racial issues,” she said.
“A Love Song” debuted on the East and West Coasts and will open in Knoxville at the Downtown West Regal Cinema on August 12.
Amazon Prime’s “A League of Their Own” series launches Friday, August 5.
