“The Fire Inside” covers Claressa Shields’ journey from Flint to gold

Claressa Shields had just seen “The Fire Inside” for the first time in early January 2024, a film that chronicles the 15-time world champion boxer’s journey from her childhood in Flint, Michigan, to becoming a two-time Olympic gold medalist.

Shields relived the good and bad moments of her journey to London in 2012 and the aftermath of that gold medal-winning performance.

The film, which hits theaters on Christmas Day, is “very accurate,” according to Shields. She had an easy role and just agreed with the script. She often spoke to producer Barry Jenkins to make sure she was comfortable with people knowing about parts of her journey.

“I want them to see that it wasn’t easy,” Shields told ESPN. “It was hard mentally, physically and emotionally and it took a lot to overcome those things, but I wanted those things in there because I’m not ashamed of them and I think it will help someone else.”

Shields won gold in Rio in 2012 and 2016, making him the first American boxer – male or female – to win gold at consecutive Olympics. “The Fire Inside” primarily highlights her run to London and ends as she begins training for Rio.

As Shields watches the film, she cries, laughs, and clenches her fist, the fire still burning inside her. But once the film is over, there’s only one thing left: to finally meet Ryan Destiny, the actor whose portrayal of Shields she was proud of.

The two had spoken to each other by phone throughout the filming process. Shields called Destiny when she found out the actor got the role. Shields peppered Destiny with questions, including whether she had ever gotten into a fight or started a war. Destiny, who hadn’t exercised at all before the film, said no. Shields admitted she was worried.

“I prayed for her. I said, ‘Oh Lord, please give her the strength because I know it’s going to be hard,'” she said.

Destiny told ESPN that she scared Shields a little “because (Shields) thought I was maybe a little too pretty, a little too squeamish for the role.” But the gold medalist accepted that Destiny played the role. After seeing the film, Shields loved the boxing scenes and felt they fit her experience perfectly, director Rachel Morrison told ESPN.

But Destiny didn’t know that.

She invited Shields to her birthday party in January, which coincided with Shields’ first wake the night before. Shields wished her a happy birthday before a “scared” Destiny asked the boxer: “Have you seen the movie?”

“And I said, ‘Yes.’ And she said, ‘Oh.’ She just looked at me,” Shields recalls. “I start screaming and I picked her up and hugged her and she cried and I cried. I thought, ‘I loved it.’ And she was like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve been waiting to hear this for so long.'”

It was a moment that served as the highlight of a trip delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Filming began in 2020 and then paused until 2022. The exterior scenes were filmed in Flint and most of the interior scenes were shot in Toronto. From a fighting perspective, the pandemic meant Destiny was able to train twice, which proved to be a valuable experience.

Morrison said Destiny grew as an athlete during this extension. The first time, it was difficult to gain muscle and maintain weight because Destiny was “doing so much more physical activity than she ever had before.”

But the second time filming took place, they found out what worked and what didn’t.

“It was just so different for me, very shocking to my body and just so new,” Destiny said. “And of course I had to go on a diet. I had to gain some weight and muscle, which was also completely new. Not particularly funny, but it had to happen.”

She worked with Robert Sale, the same technical boxing consultant for “Creed” and “Creed III.” Destiny revealed that she consulted with actor Michael B. Jordan and received support from him throughout the filming process. Sale treated her like a fighter, not an actress — important for understanding the coach-athlete dynamic.

Morrison also trained in boxing. She worked with Dicky Eklund Jr., the son of a character played by Christian Bale in the film “The Fighter.”

By the time filming began on “The Fire Inside,” Morrison had already had two years under his belt. It allowed her to choreograph fight scenes using the experience of training and sparring to understand what it’s like to actually get hit. She wanted to “pay attention to the game” and feel the psychological experience of being on the ropes or having to back away from the corner.

“I’m really proud of our boxing scenes because I think the choreography is pretty dynamic,” Morrison said. “And it really puts the audience in the ring in a way that even with as many boxing films out there, I don’t know if many of them have captured that level of immersive experience.”

The film covers emotional parts of Shields’ journey.

Shields doesn’t receive the notoriety and money she expected after winning the gold medal, expressing her frustration that her life seems to remain the same as before. This leads her to try to pawn her medal at a pawn shop, but the owner informs Shields’ mother. Shields’ mother shows up and has an emotional hug with the boxer – their volatile relationship is also recorded, which Destiny Shields questioned about for a better understanding.

One of the more emotional moments is when Shields travels to China for the 2012 Olympics. However, her trainer Jason Crutchfield – played by actor Brian Tyree Henry – cannot go abroad with her.

Feeling lost, Shields suffered her first professional loss to Savannah Marshall as she struggles to understand instructions from a trainer she doesn’t normally work with. She takes it hard in the film – she refuses to speak to Crutchfield when he calls after her, and rewatches the fight several times to try to figure out what went wrong.

Talking about it over a decade later, it still bothers the boxing star.

“I felt like I let my family down and I let Jason and everyone down when I lost. When I see that on film, it still makes me cry,” Shields said. “And I see that…even though I’m in tears now, that’s the hardest thing for me to watch.”

A major reason the film accurately depicts this moment is Morrison and Destiny’s experience with their respective boxing trainers.

Morrison approached her trainer feeling “a little at a loss” traveling with other fighters. Destiny experienced the same thing. When her trainer couldn’t be on set, she admitted she didn’t have the same confidence as if he were actually there.

“It was a very strange thing, but in hindsight it was great for the film itself and for me getting those parts right as well,” Destiny said.

No stunt people were used for any of the fight scenes. Destiny completed the scenes and the boxers involved were real boxers. She recalled that it was strange filming the fights. Training taught her the basics and how to actually fight.

Destiny had to relearn things for the camera, like making shots wider and figuring out the distance so they don’t really connect on shots. She got hit a few times because they got too close. But Destiny quickly joked: “I hit them too, but they can take it. They’re used to it.”

Morrison wanted these scenes to remain unique and distinctive, especially since there are five fights in the first two-thirds of the film. Lighting and location contributed to making them look different.

The first fight in the film is an “oner,” meaning they had to complete it in one take.

“(This) was a chance to do something a little different because you don’t have to communicate anything other than the fact that she’s a badass woman,” Morrison said. “So you could just play…and besides…it’s almost a minute of fighting and Ryan lands every single one of those punches.”

Shields called Destiny’s boxing “beautiful” and noted that she had been training. She had no complaints about the fights and mentioned that the scenes looked real.

The film was embraced by Shields and the Flint community – a feeling of validation for Morrison.

The director admitted that she didn’t know much about Shields’ story before working on the project, but she deserved to come out. For her, that was the reason to make the film. It was fundamentally wrong to be unaware of the story, but “that’s kind of what the film speaks to,” Morrison said.

Destiny also didn’t know Shields’ story, explaining it as a mix of her involvement in the arts rather than athletics. However, she is from Detroit and realized that other people there also didn’t know about Shields’ journey from Flint – a heartbreaking reality.

“It’s just crazy that not enough people know about her and what she’s accomplished,” Destiny said. “She made history. And so I just wanted the honor of being able to play someone where you can be a little vessel telling the story yourself.”

According to Shields, her story is “finally being told properly.” She hopes the film inspires and encourages people and emphasizes that if she can do it, someone else can too.

“I want five-year-olds to see the movie,” Shields said. “And then when they turn 20 and people ask them: Who is your inspiration? I want it to have such a big impact.