“You know me?” Dale Dickey and Wes Studi vulnerably ask each other when their long-lost characters finally reunite in “A Love Song” (2022). By now, we sure do. Studi and Dickey are the very definitions of gritty, credible character actors who’ve imprinted themselves on cinephiles’ memories with decades of committed, vanity-less work. But now, director Max Walker-Silverman’s debut film—a charming country romance out July 29 from Bleecker Street—unfurls a new terrain. For the first time in their entire careers, Studi and Dickey play romantic leads smack in the center of the frame, and they join Be Reel to break down why it felt so refreshing.
Of course, you’d recognize Wes Studi from ’90s classics like “The Last of the Mohicans” (1992), “Dances with Wolves” (1990), and “Heat” (1995) — and more recently from Scott Cooper’s “Hostiles” (2017). To put it bluntly, he’s possibly the most notable Native American actor in Hollywood history. Then, Dale Dickey won an Independent Spirit Award in 2010 for an unforgettably hardbitten performance in “Winter’s Bone.” She collaborated with director Debra Granik further on “Leave No Trace” (2018) and appeared memorably in “Hell or High Water” (2016), “Iron Man 3” (2013), and shows like “Justified.” Dickey, like Studi, has one of those unique visages that I would write about more here if I hadn’t ended up asking them in the podcast whether it’s weird or a normal part of the job to have people rave about their facial features.
“No, it’s weird,” says Studi, with flawless comedic timing.
Dickey continues: “My favorite thing, in the beginning, was that all these reviewers were trying to find these delicate, polite ways of saying, ‘She’s wrinkled as shit!’ But they would find these beautiful … ‘wondrously weathered’ or ‘gloriously grooved…’, and I’m like yeah, that’s me! [My face] is the map of my life. This is what I have.”
With well over 200 acting credits between them, though, “A Love Song” asks Studi and Dickey to do something they’ve rarely if ever, done on screen—be tender, romantic, even kiss. Playing a pair of widowers who reunite after decades apart at a desolate but idyllic Southwestern Colorado campsite, these two actors, who are usually cast for their scowls and gravitas, behave like nervous teenagers.
“It was a different kind of role in that involved a romantic relationship,” Studi says. “I don’t have that on film in my reel, but now I do.”
“I think Max took a chance, the fact that he admired our work but also had in the back of his mind, ‘Why haven’t they done roles in this kind of light?’ Dickey says. “You don’t see weathered, middle-aged faces like ours in this type of atmosphere. I think it’s a lovely departure and a wonderful opportunity for both of us to play kinder, gentler versions of ourselves. Even though I’ve loved those gritty roles, this was a challenge.”
In the interview below, we talk plenty about “A Love Song,” a melancholic Western ode to reopening your spirit despite thinking maybe you’ve tasted all the love life has to offer. It’s chock full of dusty, fantastic country tunes and enlivened by some playful cinematography that certainly owes to Wes Anderson without distracting from the naturalism of which Dickey and Studi are tremendously capable. We also talk about what typecasting means to these actors decades into their careers, and Studi dishes a little on Michael Mann sets and how much “Reservation Dogs” means to him. Plus, Dickey talks about losing an improv battle to Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone” and her role in the forthcoming “A League of Their Own” show. Listen to the full interview below.
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