Vancouver's Emily Bett Rickards was pumped-up to play the groundbreaking and rule-changing female pro wrestler Mildred Burke.

There’s little girls looking up to Burke, spectators showing their passion for one wrestler or hostility to another. However, all the extras seem to have the same beaming look on their faces ...

“Mildred put on this muscle in a time when it was not in vogue,” Rickards, 33, says of Burke, the first million-dollar female athlete and champion wrestler who was a major draw from the 1930s ...

Google Mildred Burke and you’ll find vintage pictures of the pro wrestling icon showing off her impressive biceps. Those photos gave Emily Bett Rickards inspiration not only for what she needed ...

The film then goes into flashback to tell the story of said athlete, Mildred Burke ... little girls looking up to Burke, spectators showing their passion for one wrestler or hostility to another.

Mildred Burke’s defiant attitude still rings true: “If these so-called he-men can do it, so can we girls.” Queen of the Ring is in US cinemas on March 7. A UK date is yet to be announced ...

Josh Lucas, Francesca Eastwood and Deborah Ann Wohl co-star in an arch and inspiring film about athlete Mildred Burke.

The film then goes into flashback to tell the story of said athlete, Mildred Burke (Emily Bett Rickards), a female pioneer ... There’s little girls looking up to Burke, spectators showing their ...

“Mildred put on this muscle in a time when it was not in vogue,” Rickards, 33, says of Burke, the first million-dollar female athlete and champion wrestler who was a major draw from the 1930s to the ...