Stars, nation saddle up for emotional ride

Michelle Payne and brother Stevie shone at the premiere of Ride Like A Girl, the story of her famous 2015 Melbourne Cup win.

Rachel Griffiths, Stevie Payne and Michelle Payne at the world premiere of Ride Like A Girl at the Jam Factory in Melbourne on Sunday. Picture: Aaron Francis

They were words spoken in a rush of euphoria and adrenaline nearly four years ago.

“I want to say to everyone else, get stuffed, because women can do anything and we can beat the world,” jockey Michelle Payne said after riding 100-1 shot Prince Of Penzance to win the 2015 Melbourne Cup, becoming the first ­female jockey to achieve the feat.

Within a few minutes, actress Rachel Griffiths’s mind had run its own race, all the way to a movie.

“My brain just exploded with resonance the moment Michelle crossed the line and told everyone to get stuffed. And then when I heard about her family, that she had seven sisters who were jockeys, her brother Stevie, who we saw that day. There was so much,” Griffiths told The Australian at the world premiere of Ride Like A Girl in Melbourne on Sunday.

“I had the title and the pitch in five minutes. I rang (producer) Richard Keddie and said ‘We need to make this film. It will be called Ride Like A Girl, it will be a PG (rated) feminist sports film and it will make men cry’.”

Four years on, the idea has become a reality. The film tells the story of Payne’s early life as the youngest of 10 children, raised by father Paddy (played by Sam Neill) after her mother, Mary, died when Michelle was six months old. A serious injury from a race fall as a teen didn't dampen her determination to ride in the big time, which culminated in her successful career as a jockey in a male-dominated sport, and ultimately the Cup win.

“We tell a lot of kids, ‘Be what you want to be, chase your dream’. This film shows that’s all very well but you’ve got to work so hard, and be so tenacious,” Griffiths said. “It is about resilience and persistence, not being a snowflake, taking the knocks, having faith in the darkest moments, keeping the dream alive.”

Payne is played by Australian actress Teresa Palmer, and brother Stevie, who was Prince Of Penzance’s strapper, played himself. He said he really liked working with Palmer (“she’s great”) and Neill, and he hoped his acting ­career didn’t end at one film.

Payne said she was nervous ahead of the premiere, as many of her family, including her father, were seeing it for the first time.

“There are a few moments I know that are really heartfelt, with big memories coming back to us, and it will be really hard for all of them because they know it was ­really hard for me,” she said.

“But I think overall they will love it because it captures my family’s essence.”

Griffiths said filming the racing scenes was terrifying, even to watch. “I think all jockeys must be slightly mad,” she said.

She said Payne’s rise to the top of her sport is one of the great Australian sport stories, “and the more opportunities there are to have a heroine in a mainstream film, the better.”