It was the Olympic debut of women’s boxing. The summer of 2012, Claressa Shields was an unknown 17-year-old from Flint, Mich., who had endured abuse and poverty, but found a home in the boxing gym. Carried by her talent and determination, she was the only U.S. boxer to win gold at the 2012 London Olympics. In 2016, she won gold at the Olympics in Rio, making her the only U.S. boxer, male or female, to win two Olympic gold medals in the sport. Today, she is a champion professional fighter.
Shields’s story is coming to movie screens in “The Fire Inside,” directed by Rachel Morrison, which opens on Dec. 25. Actress Ryan Destiny, who spent months preparing for the daunting role, portrays Shields, and actor Brian Tyree Henry portrays Shields’s trainer, Jason Crutchfield.
“This story needs to be told and deserves to be out in the world,” said Morrison, who had experience in shooting action as director of photography on “Black Panther.” “I hope people get excited to learn some stories they don’t know.”
Morrison had not seen Shields fight before taking on the directing position, but has since been to all her fights, “including the last one, where she went up two weight classes to fight as a heavyweight and she took the girl down in two rounds,” Morrison said. “Women’s boxing is incredibly exciting.”
Destiny had two challenges in transforming into Shields. The obvious one was the physicality, noted Morrison. Destiny did all the boxing scenes herself, which allowed for intense emotions in the action sequences. The only stunt fighters in the film are those who played Shields’s opponents.
“Claressa, now especially but even then, has this real confidence and sense of self,” said Morrison. “Even Ryan, being a successful, talented woman — it’s hard to always project that air of confidence and self-assuredness. That was the other biggest challenge for her.”
The film also shows how Shields was as a teenage girl, having vulnerable moments and turning on the beast in the boxing ring. This includes Shields’s complicated relationship with her mother.
“That’s what I loved about the script as well — it’s not this aspirational, ‘she’s a superhero and everybody is perfect,’” said Morrison. “Everybody, including our lead characters, are fraught, but they’re well-intentioned and there’s love.”