Original-Cin Q&A: Golden Arm star Mary Holland talks about the real world of women's arm wrestling
Golden Arm is a winning and funny new film set in the world of women’s arm wrestling. The movie stars actress/comedian Mary Holland as Melanie, a baker who, when we first meet her, is stuck in a rut and needs a change in her life.
Along comes her best friend Danny (Betsy Sodaro) who ropes her into taking her spot at the Women's Arm Wrestling Championship after Danny had broken her arm in a previous match.
Mary Holland stars as a rookie world champion arm-wresting wannabe in Golden Arm.
Directed by Maureen Bharoocha, Golden Arm also stars Olivia Stambouliah, Eugene Cordero, Aparna Nancherla, Dawn Luebbe, Ron Funches, Ahmed Bharoocha with Dot-Marie Jones and Kate Flannery.
Our Bonnie Laufer caught up with the film’s star Mary Holland over Zoom to discuss all things arm wrestling.
Golden Arm is available on VOD/Digital Release on April 30th
ORIGINAL-CIN: This movie was nothing like what I expected. I loved watching these bad-ass women develop their friendships, amid the world of competitive arm wrestling.
Was it hard to find your inner arm wrestler?
MARY HOLLAND: Oh, not hard at all. She's been lurking beneath the surface this whole time. (Laughs).
It was so much fun getting the opportunity to work on this film and exploring this world. The entire experience of shooting this movie was just such a blast. I'm so glad that you enjoyed it. I hope when people watch it, they have as good a time watching it as we did making it because it really was the time of our lives.
O-C: It certainly looked like it, especially your scenes with Betsy Sodaro, whom you spend the most time with in the film. She is pretty hilarious and I honestly do not know how you got through most of this film not cracking up.
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HOLLAND: We didn’t. We broke constantly, and truthfully that was pretty much the biggest challenge I had making the film. I have to give major props to our brilliant editor, Grant McFadden who was able to work around us laughing all the time.
Betsy is a genius and it’s great watching her in anything she does. But especially in this movie, she is so brilliant and it was the easiest thing in the world to play her best friend and build that friendship between these two characters.
We were encouraged by our wonderful director Maureen Bharoocha, to always have a playfulness about our characters. We have this dynamic between these two women where you really understand the history about their friendship and where they are coming from.
O-C: Arm wrestling is a serious sport. There really are arm wrestling competitions and the people who take part in these competitions are very serious about it. Had you been aware of this before you read the script or did you think, I need to start doing some research into this?
HOLLAND: Yes, I was aware of it. I have a few friends who are involved in those leagues out here in Los Angeles. There are so many and the ones that my friends are involved in have these tournaments for charities.
One of the writers of the movie, Ann Marie Allison, is involved with an organization outside of Washington D.C. called “D.C. Claw,” where they do these tournaments for charity. So it is very much a thing that happens all over the world - at a really fun, amateur level and then a really serious professional level.
We were so fortunate to have Dot Marie Jones, who joined the cast as “Big Sexy,” Melanie's mentor and trainer. She is actually a professional arm wrestling champion. (A 15-time world champion, in fact).
O.C. I never knew that about her, I loved watching her on Glee, but who knew that she was a competitive arm wrestler?
HOLLAND: We learned so much from her. Our director told her ‘Dot, I'm going to let the cameras roll and take it away.’ So the whole training montage you see in the film, and all of the stories she told, that was Dot sharing her real life experiences.
We were so fortunate when we shot that sequence. That was the first week of shooting, so the cast, the crew we all got actively trained at the same time.
When my character Melanie was getting trained, we learned proper arm wrestling techniques. There are terms and rules and what to be aware of that can get you disqualified.
Having Dot give us this first-hand experience was invaluable. When it came to shooting the tournament sequence we wanted to make it feel real and as accurate as possible.
O-C Did you end up with strong forearms after this was all done?
HOLLAND: I did get some pretty strong muscles. But let's not forget that, while we were shooting, everybody had to lose to me. (Laughs)
Melanie is also a baker, so if you have ever kneaded dough before, you know that takes a lot of arm strength too.
What i loved about her character is that, while she was surprised to have this Inner-strength golden-arm that she didn't know she had, it is still believable.
She's a strong person. She just hasn't embraced that part of herself yet. So I did work out. I did a lot of push-ups and I tried to make it so that I could sell that this person would win an arm wrestling competition if thrown into that ring.
O-C: Arm wrestling really helped your character Melanie build up her confidence. But I also sensed that this is a very strong and tight-knit community, filled with people who for the most part really support each other.
HOLLAND: Yes, absolutely. I think you touched on a really great element, which is how important community is, and how we need that in our lives to feel supported and be able to build that courage and confidence.
I also think of an element of the arm wrestling world in this movie - and in the real life organizations - that it’s such a beautiful means of expression. The persona, the alter ego you adopt is you engaging in a battle of strength which inherently brings out a part of yourself that has to be confident enough to fight.
I think that element was so important for Melanie. Her life had been spent on the sidelines before she discovered arm wrestling. She was complacent and had never fought for anything before discovering that in herself and witnessing other people around her feel the same way. Their rage is a really impactful thing, and it can be channeled in such a fulfilling and positive way.
O-C: Plus, you got to wear some pretty great costumes.
HOLLAND: I loved the costumes. I’ll be honest. I was not mad about all the great choices I had. Also being around so many people who had the best personas like “The Unicorn” and “The Sea Witch” was not a bad day at work!
O-C: Than you so much for your time today Mary. I learned a lot about arm wrestling and watching you in this film makes me want to try it out!
HOLLAND: Happy to give you some tips. Or as Dot Marie told us, ‘You’ve got to get the jump!’ That's what Dot taught me. If you manage to “get the jump” you'll be all good.