‘The Fire Inside’ First Look: Ryan Destiny And Brian Tyree Henry In Barry Jenkins-Penned Claressa Shields Biopic

The first images have been released for The Fire Inside, the upcoming biopic on boxer Claressa Shields that was written by Barry Jenkins and stars Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry .

Formerly titled Flint Strong, the film is the directorial debut of Rachel Morrison, the Oscar-nominated cinematographer who received a nod for Mudbound (the first woman to be nominated for Best Cinematography) and also worked on Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther and Fruitvale Station .

Here’s the official description:

THE FIRE INSIDE is the inspirational true story of Claressa Shields, arguably the greatest female boxer of all time. Claressa, a high school Junior from Flint, Michigan, aided by her tough-love coach, Jason Crutchfield, pushes past all limitations to become the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing. But even at the pinnacle of success, Claressa has to reckon with the fact that not all dreams are created equal, and the real fight has only just begun.

Shields involved in the project as an executive producer.

Set to premiere in September at the Toronto International Film Festival, it will be in theaters this Christmas.

Check out the photos below:

The project has been in the works for some time, with Jenkins being attached to the project during the awards campaign for Moonlight, before the Oscar wins.

The film is based on T-Rex, a 2015 documentary about Shields. The tri-continental effort (North America, Europe and Asia) hailed from directors Drea Cooper and Zackary Canepari, who began work on the doc in 2012, en route to a successful $64,000 crowdfunding campaign – funds that were used to complete the film. A major part of the funding also came courtesy of Independent Lens. Universal, where the project was initially set up before moving to Amazon MGM, acquired Shields’ life rights and the rights to the documentary in 2016.

At 21, Shields, a world champion boxer, took home the Olympic gold medal for the United States in 2012, the year Women’s Boxing was first considered for the competition. She was the youngest of all the competitors. After T-Rex’s debut, she went on to win another gold medal for the U.S. in 2016.

Shields, from Flint, Michigan, became an undefeated fighter. Her coach, Jason Crutchfield, has trained her since she was an 11-year-old hanging out at his gym. Despite the growing tension between her and Crutchfield, as well as with her family, as she got closer and closer to achieving her dream, a fierce and determined Claressa desperately wanted to take her family to a safer place, and winning a gold medal was her one big chance.

Shadow And Act had the opportunity to talk to Shields back when the documentary premiered and spoke about her then future aspirations. “I want to be an actress, I think I can do dramas or maybe even a boxing movie, kind of like a Taraji P. Henson or something. I want to move my family to Florida as well. I’m not sure about going pro, but I want my boxing career to progress. Overall, I just want to go down in history as the best female fighter to ever live, that’s my overall goal,” she said in part.