Actress Emily Bett Rickards chatted about playing Mildred Burke in the new wrestling movie “Queen of the Ring,” directed by Ash Avildsen.
The synopsis is: In a time when pro wrestling for women was illegal all over the country, a small town single mother Mildred Burke (Emily Bett Rickards) embraces the danger to change culture as she dominates America’s most masculine sport to become the first million dollar female athlete in history.
Aside from Rickards, the cast includes Josh Lucas, Tyler Posey, Walton Goggins, Francesca Eastwood, Marie Avgeropoulos, Gavin Casalegno, and Martin Kove (“Cobra Kai”), among others.
Playing Mildred Burke
“Honestly, I didn’t know anything about Mildred at first,” Rickards admitted. “When I first read the script, I thought that was a disservice not only to myself but to my entire childhood, and if there were other people like me out there.”
“I didn’t know anything about wrestling, and now I get to dive in and be a fan of wrestling, and all the female wrestlers that are up here with me.”
“I didn’t know a lot, and I still don’t know a lot, to be honest. To have this story come to life has been amazing,” she added.
Lessons learned from making this film
On the lessons learned from making this movie, Rickards reflected, “Lately, I’ve been saying that the one thing that stuck with me was that I don’t think that Mildred was immune to self-doubt, I think she kept picking herself back up.”
“So, when I have those moments, Mildred reminds me to get back up. I think if we take anything from her story, this is how she would want to be remembered. We just make each other stronger,” she concluded.
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Read More: “Queen of the Ring” review
