Ronda Rousey found it difficult to convey pain for her role in upcoming movie Mile 22.
The star rose to prominence as a professional wrestler and mixed martial artist but has been transitioning to Hollywood in recent years, nabbing roles in The Expendables 3 and Furious 7.
While Ronda may be good at fighting in real life, she has now shared that the biggest challenge she found in portraying weapons expert Sam Snow in the action flick was displaying her emotions.
"My whole life I’ve always been taught to never show pain at all," she told Collider.com. "It could affect the referees, so for someone who’s always had to suppress it, it was a challenge for me to actually go out and show pain. Whether people like it or not, it was very therapeutic for me to actually be able to express myself in a way that I’ve never been allowed to."
However, Ronda did enjoy getting to grips with the tactical element of her character's job and liked that she didn't do so much "hand-to-hand fighting" in the film. She also explained that she had received a lot of support from Peter Berg on set and described him as the "best director" she's worked with to date.
"He helps me through every scene and gives me the freedom to say things in my own words. But if he wants something in an exact phrase, he can shout it at me. So, he gives me a lot of detail and direction. Instead of ‘That wasn’t so good, let’s do it again’, he’ll give me the exact details of what he wants. As someone who’s been coached all their life, that’s what I need — I need coaching and direction," the 31-year-old said.
Mile 22, written by Lea Carpenter and Graham Roland, also stars Mark Wahlberg as lead character James Silva, as well as John Malkovich and Iko Uwais. And Ronda divulged that Mark "brings out the best" in the cast.
"Mark has a way of making everybody focused. He’s awesome to have around… He keeps me in that mode of not goofing around too much," she smiled.
