Emily Bett Rickards wants to tell stories that matter, and she found a great one with her role as Mildred Burke in Queen of the Ring.
WrestleZone spoke with Rickards to promote the digital release of Queen of the Ring. Rickards headlines the film as Mildred Burke, the three-time women’s champion who broke barriers as a female wrestler in the early 20th century. Rickards (Arrow, Calamity Jane) highlighted what drew her to the project and the powerful message behind telling Burke’s story.
“When I first read the script, I was just like, ‘I can’t believe I don’t know this woman’s story. I’m in. This needs to get out there. Let’s get her story out there.’ I related to her in the fact that she felt like she had a dream that was crazy,” Rickards explained. “You know, it’s just like, well, ‘I’m a woman from a small town that has this dream of being a wrestler. And women are not only allowed to use their bodies freely, and be liberated. They’re definitely not allowed to wrestle. It’s illegal. No one is doing it. I’m not even allowed to go matches, but that’s exactly what I want to do.’ Like, I was just like, ‘This woman, whoever she was, whoever she is, I’m in.’ And it was — she had a high, highly challenging road ahead of her.”
Emily Bett Rickards highlights an important message in Queen of the Ring
Rickards pointed out that the movie ends on a more positive note, but there is much more to Burke’s overall story. One aspect that Rickards was able to appreciate more once filming was done was how division will make people weaker, but unity will create strength.
“If we can just hold each other up and bring each other up, we’ll be stronger together. She thought that about herself, about her multiple facets of who she was. She’s like, ‘If I’m a mother and I’m a wrestler, I’m stronger. But if I’m just one, I’m not myself.’ So, there are these messages woven in the whole film,” Rickards said. “There’s a lot of messages in the film and whatever you take away from it is worthy. I’m excited to hear more about how people feel when they watch it.”
Mildred Burke’s grandchildren were happy to have a new way to share her life’s work
During a previous interview with WrestleZone, Queen’s Damaris Lewis and Kailey Latimer (Kamille) spoke about how meaningful it was to have their respective characters’ real-life families give their approval when they met on the set. Rickards also highlighted what it was like meeting Burke’s granddaughter, noting how much the moment resonated with her personally.
“The granddaughters came up to me and they were so happy they had something to show their children about their grandmother. I was so — touched isn’t even a big enough word. It was like, I was so involved with what that means to them because it means a lot to me. It means a lot to… As Emily, I wish I had something of my grandmother to show my children. As a friend of Mildred’s, I’m so happy that Mildred’s story is able to be shared at such a great expanse. And as an actor, I am even more impassioned to tell stories that matter. Because this is why we do what we do, because I think we want to go and go see stories and be involved in stories. So that we can bring them back to our lives and be more of service in our lives.”
Queen of the Ring is available to buy or rent on digital video on demand services, including Amazon Prime, now. Check out our full interview with Emily Bett Rickards below:
The post Emily Bett Rickards Shares Mildred Burke’s Family’s Reaction To ‘Queen Of The Ring’ appeared first on Wrestlezone.
