Exclusive: Queen Of The Ring Director, Ash Avildsen, Finally Brings The Story Of Mildred Burke To The Mainstream

Queen of the Ring is now officially in theaters and the story of Mildred Burke is finally mainstream. At the end of the day, that reality was the goal for director, Ash Avildsen.

"It was a year prior to even WWE putting her into the Hall of Fame when I first got tipped off about the book from JR (Jim Ross)," Avildsen told The Takedown on SI. "I just felt like if I can't figure out how to get this made, who's going to do it? No one even knows about her."

The movie stars Emily Bett Rickards, Josh Lucas, Tyler Posey, Francesca Eastwood, and others. It's based on the true story of Mildred Burke during a time when women’s pro wrestling was illegal. Burke is of course the main character and her uniqueness is what stood out to Avildsen on the project.

"It's true and is just so enchanting," Avildsen said. "I was just so hooked, I blew through it (the Mildred Burke book) in a weekend. As a pro wrestling fan, I was just amazed by all of the history. They didn't know about the shoot matches with live audiences, all of the carny drama in the early, early territory days. And then, just as a movie lover and someone who loves stories that I think have a lot of replay value, it was just amazing. I mean, the whole thing is like a fairy tale.

"I loved reading the book. How she just saw a match and she knew this is what I want to do. This is my destiny. And I recreated that in the first act. And some people think, Oh, the movie gets going so fast, or we didn't spend enough time finding out about why she wanted to be a wrestler. It was too on the nose. She just goes to a match and says, This is my destiny. That's what it was.

"I love the fact that she was just so confident with such conviction, going, this is my calling. And I experienced that at a young age, when I went to my first big punk rock show. I saw Rancid at Lollapalooza. I was like, that's what I want to do. And I started singing in a band, but then I realized I couldn't sing in key as much as I wanted to, and I was gonna have to scream a lot. I was like, if I can't sing like the best of them, forget about it.

"So, on the passion side, I love just how confident she was and just courageous to pursue it. And then on the human side, you know, I grew up with a single mom. She was a single mother, which is really hard. Back then, it was extra unheard of for a mother to have any type of career, especially one in like sports or combat or anything fitness related. So, the fact that she toured with her son, there's this amazing ride or die mom and son against the world mentality that the two of them had and that really struck like a human nerve in me."

Mildred Burke was a pro wrestler, but Avildsen says that the story is a human story that won't just appeal to wrestling fans.

MORE: Emily Bett Rickards Shines As The Great Mildred Burke In 'Queen of the Ring' [Exclusive]

"Look, it's an unorthodox family between Mildred and her manager husband, Billy Wolf and their two kids. It's a story about family being beyond blood," Avildsen said. "As you know, there's men and women that are part of this traveling show that share deep bonds. And you know, it's about not letting yourself be put into a box with what you want to do based on who you are, what you are, how you look, where you grew up, how you feel, and how society perceives you.

"It's kind of like a stereotypical thing about, but yeah, like be yourself and chase your dreams. It's f**king real, man, that's the whole thing. That's kind of the point of this whole ride -- its family and trying to find out how to be happy and not let the world and society kick you when you're down. So, regardless of the pro wrestling element, I just think it's an amazing true story that could also be a total fictional fairy tale with how fantastical the whole journey is for her."

Burke was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016. Queen of the Ring is in theaters now.

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