Emily Bett Rickards has spoken about working with stars of OVW and AEW stars to prepare for her recent film.
The Canadian actress is starring as Mildred Burke in the biopic, titled Queen of the Ring. She portrays the WWE Hall of Famer in a movie that also stars current wrestlers, including AEW’s Kamille and Toni Storm.
Emily Bett Rickards sat down with WrestlingInc recently to speak about her role in the movie. The actress spoke about training with OVW to prepare for the role. She revealed how the wrestlers in OVW let her “slam them incessantly for practice”
She added that meeting the wrestlers and rehearsing helped her create the persona of Mildred Burke and learn about the history of wrestling.
“Yeah, so when I arrived in Louisville, we were trained at OVW in Louisville, which Al Snow and Dougie Basham headlined that for us. Our stunt coordinators, Heath and Jeff, as well as my stunt double Kelly, were there as big leaders as well in that. And then all the wrestlers at OVW too, who let me slam them incessantly for practice and who shared their stories with me about wrestling and who let me come to watch some of their shows and their matches. All of that was education that you can’t get without getting shared with, without people sharing it with you. I was really lucky to have that.” Emily Bett Rickards said.
“So yeah, a lot of wrestling rehearsals, a lot of learning choreography, a lot of learning about the history of wrestling, why persona is so important, what persona means to certain people, how people choose their names, even what they wear, those kind of things are all creating this character, which creates the storyline of why we fall in love with wrestling.”
Emily Bett Rickards On Working With Toni Storm & Kamille
Emily Bett Rickards spoke about working with Kamille and Toni Storm on the film. She called Kamille a real leader, while admitting she didn’t get to spend much time with Storm on set.
“Well, I wrestled with Kailey a lot, Kamille a lot, and not only was she helpful, she’s guiding them. She’s a real leader. She is. I bow down. She is those wrestling scenes. When you get to see them in the film, there is no scene, there is no wrestling without her, she is really leading and guiding as well as Toni in our wrestling as well. I didn’t get to spend as much time with Toni, but once again, she is guiding that. They’re the pros. I’m the guest in those arenas, and I’m really grateful for their guidance.”
