Brian Tyree Henry on “Fire Inside” and “Beyond the Spider-Verse”

“The Fire Inside” took years to make.

The Rachel Morrison-directed drama (now in theaters) tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, a Flint, Michigan native who became the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing. Ryan Destiny plays Shields alongside Oscar nominee Brian Tyree Henry as her trainer Jason Crutchfield.

“I trained in 2020, our first training in three to four months,” Destiny tells me during a joint interview with Henry on this week’s Just For diversity” Podcast. “Then we stopped everything for two years, and I had to do it again a second time. But looking back, I’m actually very glad that I had more time to do it, and I think I grew as a person, and I would assume and hope so because it was such a long process.

“Overall, it was like a five-year process to get this off the ground,” she continues. “So I’m very happy when I look back on it now. But it was intense. It was an intense world and very challenging for me, and in many ways I didn’t realize my body could do the things it did.”

Henry remembers how he trashed Destiny when she went on her very strict and not so tasty training diet. “She was irritable, but I loved it because I went up to her and ate Cheetos and asked, ‘How are you?’ “How does the brown rice taste?” because I didn’t have to work out. I thought, ‘That’s the great thing about being a coach.'” You don’t actually have to coach.'”

Ryan, what did you know about boxing before signing on to the film?

DESTINATION: I knew zero about boxing, literally zero. It’s something I’ve always respected, but this world scares me so much. I say, “I don’t understand how people can do this.” But here I am.

Brian, do you follow boxing at all?

HEINRICH: Oh yes. I am an avid boxing fan. I place bets and everything.

DESTINATION: Are you trolling because I don’t…

HEINRICH: No, I’m not trolling, but you already know that I have a whole boxing ring that I play with. That’s what you do, right? No. Most importantly, I knew nothing about Claressa. This was the part that really upset me because I didn’t know anything about this story, which is a big reason why I picked it up because I couldn’t understand why I didn’t know anything about the story. And then I stepped back and said, ‘I understand why I don’t know anything about history.’ Of course, there’s this black woman from Flint, Michigan, who did something incredibly historic by winning two consecutive gold medals, and we buried it . The sports world buried it.

Ryan, let’s talk about giving voice, face, and visibility to someone we can all agree didn’t get what she deserved. The responsibility, the pressure of telling this story, and not just the desire to be a successful actress, but also knowing that hopefully this story would reach people and that they would know about it.

DESTINATION: There was obviously a lot of pressure because I knew she was also a very vocal person and if she didn’t like it, she would definitely tell me and say it and not every day during the press rounds and this us his demonstrations, everything. I knew I wanted her to agree, but it was also a great honor to be able to do a story like this, which is so special. Projects like this don’t always happen. So I knew it was something rare and I knew it was a chore. I feel like as an actor you really crave things like that, things that mean something, because it helps the whole process overall. It helps you socialize. It changes you for the better and helps you grow in so many different ways.

HEINRICH: If you sign up to do something like boxing, you have to let off steam. But she also gave as good as she got because there were moments when I had to train with her and my wrists were still recovering. I say, “Relax. That’s take two. Breathe.” But that says a lot about the credibility you know from Ryan because she wanted to do it right. She wanted to make sure her hooks and thrusts were very similar to Claressa’s, which she should do because if she If you do something wrong, Claressa will pick on you in the street, and you don’t want that. But I think there’s a lot of courage in it, not only in Claressa, but also in Ryan. I don’t think people understand it means simply in a ring In and of itself, climbing into a ring is difficult.

There’s the scene where she breaks up with her boyfriend, and when (Ryan) leaves the ring, I actually saw it and thought, ‘Wow, she left so smoothly.’ I would trip over that.

DESTINATION: No one has ever said they’ve done this before. I appreciate that. I was so nervous about stumbling back and forth and thought, “Wow, I really need to go and get into this stuff like I’ve been doing it my whole life.” So stuff like that was really important to me. So thank you very much.

HEINRICH: And you did it. There’s even a scene where I have to hit her on the head to get her attention back, which is real. That’s what happened. That really happened and I looked at her and thought, “I have to hit you.” You know what I mean? That’s the connection between coach and athlete, right? But Ryan pulled it off seamlessly. She did it seamlessly. Take after take, day after day, hit after hit, she did it. And we applaud these men all the time when they go out here and jump rope and punch pig carcasses and stuff like that, and we say, “Oh, but we’ve never seen that before.” We’ve never seen a black woman in that position .”

Ryan, the scene where Claressa tries to put on makeup. The film is a lot about their looks, their messages, their branding. How much pressure do you feel as a black actress in Hollywood when people tell you, ‘Oh no, you should do that.’ No, you should do that.”

DESTINATION: I obviously liked it for so many reasons. Having to look a certain way to feel like I’m worthy of an opportunity is something I’ve been going through since I was very, very young. And I think it’s different for me too, because with someone like Claressa, who had so much confidence even at that age, it wasn’t necessarily me. And it took me longer to realize my worth and myself, to recognize my limits and to know what to fight for and what to say no to. Overall, I think as a woman in this industry, people are constantly telling you what to do. And as a black woman, that adds to that. It’s nothing I’m not familiar with and I think I’m finally getting to grips with it at this point in my life, but it took me a minute to get there. It took me a minute to fully emerge as myself in every room I was in. And I think that this story is very, very important especially for girls, for women and for black women because it really reminds you how important it is to remember your strength and who you are and that you not having to conform in any way to be successful and accepted. This is one of my favorite messages in this film and one that I can really relate to.

Last question because I need to wrap it up. Brian, when do we see Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse?

DESTINATION: Yes, Brian!

HEINRICH: In due course. We have to complete it. It needs to be completed. Can you imagine if we said, “That’s it. He’s in a portal and that’s it.”

DESTINATION: Is it your fault, Brian, for being too booked and busy? Is it because of your schedule?

HEINRICH: First of all, this is loaded. And yes, the answer is yes. No, look, it takes time, but we have to make you wait a little. You know what I mean? But it’s coming. It’s coming. There won’t be a dry eye in the house. I’m telling you that. Good luck. There’s no way to summarize what things do in a nice little loop.

This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.

You can listen to the full conversation with Destiny and Henry above on Just for Variety or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.