If you’re going to see the new Ronnie James Dio documentary, maybe bring some tissues along with your metal horns.
The film, titled Dio: Dreamers Never Die, follows the metal legend’s entire musical career from his days as a ’50s doo-wop singer and forming the band Elf to joining Ritchie Blackmore‘s Rainbow and replacing the fired Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath to finally launching his own namesake band, Dio.
It continues throughout the ’80s and into the ’90s, with Ronnie’s career taking a plunge amid to the grunge and alternative explosion, to his triumphant reunion in the 2000s with former Black Sabbath bandmates in the band Heaven & Hell, and his untimely death of stomach cancer in 2010.
Making Dreamers Never Die was a “bittersweet” experience for Ronnie’s widow, Wendy Dio, who’s an executive producer on the film.
“When we were going through all the archives and everything … there was certain things I laughed about, and then other things I cried about,” Wendy tells ABC Audio. “It was just a very emotional journey.”
Wendy adds the film’s directors, Don Argott and Demian Fenton, were “just amazing.”
“They just did everything that I wanted and more,” she says. “I was so, so proud of this movie.”
Ronnie’s story struck Fenton as one different from the usual rock ‘n’ roll tale.
“Normally you hear the story about the young rock people, rocker gets discovered early on and everything crashes and burns and all this stuff, but Ronnie is the opposite,” Fenton says. “He worked for years, he worked for decades honing his craft, learning about who he was as an artist.”
Dio: Dreamers Never Die will be shown in theaters on September 28 and October 2. For more info, visit DioDreamersNeverDie.com.
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