Ronda Rousey Calls New Graphic Novel A Unique Genre Mash-Up, Near And Dear To Her Heart

Ronda Rousey wrote a story that is uniquely hers.

Rousey spoke with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard to promote her new graphic novel, Expecting The Unexpected. The project will officially launch on Kickstarter on July 25. However, she says it’s a story that she says is five years in the making.

Rousey originally envisioned the book as writing her own Rocky. It drew from her love of martial arts and cinema. Rousey looked to create an opportunity to prove herself in a new way. Paul Heyman also gave her some key advice to get things moving.

Advice from a Wise Man

“I ended up really getting the idea for this from Paul Heyman during the go-home show before [WrestleMania 35],” Rousey said. “He asked, ‘What kind of movie do you want to star in?’ And I never really thought about that [before]. I had just been kind of passive, just frustrated and waiting for someone to hand me the perfect opportunity without even really putting much thought into what that would be. So I was really thinking like, okay, what is part that no one could play better than me?

“I’ve always, of course, wanted to do action, martial arts,” she continued. “But where I was in my life at the time, I was trying to get pregnant. And what ended up coming out in an 11-hour writing binge was a martial arts romantic comedy. It was kind of like a genre mash-up that I’ve never seen before. In trying to create for myself a part that no one could play better than me, I ended up writing something that no one could have written other than me.”

Evolution of The Unexpected

Rousey says her first draft was ‘God-awful’. To improve, she spent the next few years taking writing classes and watching YouTube tutorials. She also landed an internship at WME under Head of Story Adam Novak and focused on putting her energy into something fulfilling.

“The story has been evolving over five years. It got to a point where I’m like, ‘I’m totally unproven as a lead in Hollywood, even less proven as a writer. No one’s going to believe in this or finance it.’ But I was so in love with the story,” Rousey explained. “I really needed it to be told. I can’t stop obsessing about it. It’s been five years, it’s not going away. I’m a big nerd for graphic novels and comics. That’s why I finally got the light bulb of, ‘This could be a graphic novel.’ The action itself, there’s a lot of choreography in it because I’m a big nerd for fight choreography. It’s why I got into wrestling in the first place. But I believe it could be translated into a graphic novel with the right process and the right team.”

A unique perspective

Rousey went and filmed the fight choreography in a way that made sense for a graphic novel. This is also when former Editor-In-Chief of Marvel Axel Alonso and Eisner Award-winning artist Mike Deodato Jr. came on board.

“Then me and Mike, together, took this film and refined it into a way that you could actually understand it and follow along this kind of action in a comic. I don’t think I’ve ever seen grappling sequences or anything like that in a comic book in a way that’s really exciting and in a way that really, really flows. So I think really created something entirely unique to the medium,” Rousey explained. “It’s packaged as an adorable love story that is punctuated with fighting off assassins and dealing with pregnancy symptoms. It’s something that’s extremely unique and near and dear to my heart. I hope it touches other people as much as it’s touched me in my life.

Read More: Ronda Rousey: Paul Heyman Is One Of The Few People Who Encouraged Me Creatively

Ronda Rousey on Dave Bautista

Ronda Rousey will take the stage at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday with Alonso and Deodato to spread the word about Expecting The Unexpected. Dave Bautista will also moderate the panel, and it’s an opportunity that Rousey is grateful (and surprised) to come to fruition.

“I’m so shocked that he agreed to do this because he was the top of my dream list of like, ‘Who do you think could moderate it? Wouldn’t it be so cool if Dave Bautista did it?’ And I’m like, ‘There’s no way on earth that he’s going to say yes,’ and he actually did. I’m like forever indebted to this man,” Rousey proclaimed. “We’ve met before and he’s always been such a so polite and respectful and a sweetheart, but he doesn’t owe me a damn thing.

“He’s so in demand and everywhere these days. I can’t believe that Drax [from Guardians of the Galaxy] is coming to my panel at Comic-Con when he’s literally a Marvel star. It’s very humbling, and I’m extremely grateful,” she added. “I’m looking forward to it just as much to talk about this [graphic novel] as being able to talk about this with Dave Bautista on stage. He’s dealt with and conquered a lot of the problems that I was trying to face creating this project, trying to create a space for myself in that industry coming from another, where it’s hard to get them to take you seriously and see you as anything else other than what you’ve been in other spaces.”

Ronda Rousey touted Bautista’s longevity as an actor, pointing out that he’s been in Hollywood longer than people might realize. She praised Bautista’s range as an actor and hopes she can achieve reach those heights herself.

“He really disappears into his parts”

“That’s the stuff that people don’t see — the work that you do that is behind the scenes. All of the different things that you’re trying out for and get rejected for that, that nobody knows about. Then he shows up as Drax and is getting all these opportunities. It seems like it’s out of nowhere, but I know that he’d been working at that all already for years. His perseverance and his progress from coming into the industry as an adult and being such a respectable actor now,” Rousey explained. “Take away anything else that he’s ever done, just as an actor, I am so impressed with his range and everything that he’s done.

“I was just watching The Boy and the Heron. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, he’s in The Boy and the Heron too? He’s the Parakeet King!’ It’s just so incredible, and I never would have guessed. It’s not like you hear it and you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s so and so.’ He really disappears into his parts,” she added. “I really feel like that’s the kind of mastery that that I can only aspire to reach someday.”

Learn more about Expecting The Unexpected on the project’s official Kickstarter page. Listen to our full interview with Ronda Rousey below: