‘Emotional’ Ronnie James Dio documentary set for release this year

A new documentary celebrating the life and music of the late Ronnie James Dio will be released in 2022.

Announced in February 2020, and co-directed by Don Argott and Demian Fenton, the film promises to be "the definitive Ronnie James Dio documentary, incorporating never-before-seen archival footage and photos from his personal archives." Having recently been shown a first cut of the film, the legendary singer’s widow Wendy Dio has described the as-yet-untitled documentary as “very emotional.”

“[It] goes all the way through his life till the end,” she says. “I was watching it with my publicist and a person from BMG, who are funding the documentary, and we all cried.”

Wendy Dio was speaking on The Lucas H. Gordon Show: in the course of the conversation, she revealed that Rob Halford, Dio’s former Black Sabbath bandmate Geezer Butler, Jack Black and Lita Ford are among those contributing to the film.

The full interview is shown below.

Speaking about the documentary in 2020, BMG’s Kathy Rivkin Daum described Ronnie James Dio as “a larger than life rock hero” and said, "The story behind his passion, ambition, and the highs and lows of success, in the rock and metal worlds, is something audiences have never seen before and won’t soon forget.”

An official release date for the film has yet to be confirmed.

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.