On Friday, December 13, Claressa Shields conducted an online roundtable discussion with several boxing writers (me among them). The focus of the presser was to talk about The Fire Inside, the upcoming biopic based on Shields’ and her pre-professional career in boxing.
Shields revealed the movie was a challenge to get made. The original idea for the film first was suggested back in 2016 when Shields was looking to win her second consecutive boxing gold medal in Rio. Anyone who’s been around the entertainment business for any length of time knows that films seldom get fast-tracked into production unless they are sure things, like Marvel movies used to be. Furthermore, as Shields correctly pointed out there are not that many biopics made about black athletes, let alone black boxers–despite people of color dominating the sport historically. Michael Mann’s Ali, starring Will Smith was a touchpoint and inspiration for Shields. She wanted a movie of that quality to represent her early years in the fight game.
Shields was fortunate to have such behind-the-scenes heavy-hitters like Barry Jenkins (Oscar winning writer/director of Moonlight, and Emmy nominee for The Underground Railroad) scratching out the screenplay, and first-time director, but Oscar-nominated cinematographer for Mudbound, behind the camera. What brought Shields the most comfort was “knowing that Rachel and Barry knew about the black culture.”
Shields continued, “Rachel Morrison worked on Black Panther. I was able to meet Chadwick Boseman and just to know that she was able to be around him. She really dug deep into my story and really wanted to get my story right. Knowing that Barry Jenkins had made Moonlight and that Rachel also worked on Mudbound. I watched those movies. I met Mary J. Blige after she did Mudbound. We did a commercial together for the Super Bowl. All these things came full circle. I was very comfortable knowing these were great people who weren’t just in it just to make a movie, but to make a great movie and to represent me and to tell my story the right way. I was very comfortable and I trusted them a hundred percent, even when it came to the casting. I was offered opportunities to come and to be a part of things, but no, I want you guys to do your jobs and you do it without my pressure of me being there.”
Of course, Shields was particularly interested in who would be playing her. She was pleased to learn that Ryan Destiny, “a pretty brown girl from Detroit,” would be playing her. Shields expressed some reservations when she first spoke to Destiny and learned that the actress had never boxed, been in a fistfight, or even a shoving match. Destiny calmed her concerns by speaking about her training regimen and complete commitment to the part.
Early on, there was some consideration of having Shields play herself in the film, but Shields said, “No, because you guys are going to give me lines to say, and I’m not going to say them because maybe I don’t feel that.” About the film, Shields went on to say, “I was very honored to know that they spent so many years making it, and when I’m seeing the movie for the first time, it’s something unimaginable. You think going to the Olympics twice and standing on a podium for a gold medal is crazy; imagine seeing a story of all the parts of your life, the good parts, the bad parts, the crazy parts, who you were as a young kid to who you are now as a grown person. I was shook.”
Shields has carried a reputation of not being the easiest person to deal with for much of her pro career. Many have found her touchy and defensive, but she hopes that The Fire Inside will illuminate who she is in a way that maybe she can’t herself. “This movie, when people see it, they will have a full understanding of who Clarissa Shields is,” she expressed. I think she’s onto something there. The Fire Inside was shot in Shields’ hometown of Flint, just over 60 miles from Detroit. Flint is one of the toughest cities in the country, let alone the state of Michigan. Most people probably know the city because of its lead-infested drinking water crisis from 2014 to 2016. Flint is a city that was built for over 200,000 people, but as the auto industry has fluctuated over the years, Flint now has a population of less than 80,000. In that way, Flint is a microcosm of Detroit, a city that once was home to over 1.8 million people and now has less than 650,000 residents. That kind of population loss invariably leads to higher poverty levels, joblessness, and crime.
Despite her hometown’s struggles, Shields is particularly proud that The Fire Inside was filmed on location in Flint. “I feel like they captured Flint very well,” Shields said. “When people watch the movie, and you see Ryan running down Baltimore Street, you see her running down North Saginaw; those were the streets I ran on. Those were some of my same routes. People see that, who still live in Flint, who are fans of me and who know me, and they’re like, wow, we come from the same place. That’s a big deal to know that we come from the same place. And if I made it to where I made it to, they can make it too.”
One of Shields’ top concerns about the film is that the boxing looks real on screen. As she said, “This is not Rocky. I love Rocky movies, but the boxing was not that great. I think the boxing in Creed was a lot better, but I said for The Fire Inside, we have the greatest woman (boxer) of all time. Let’s not drop the ball with the boxing. And everybody knew I was very serious about that.” Shields even offered to work on the film as a stuntwoman to make sure the fights look authentic. In the end, her offer was not taken up, but Shields ended up very pleased with the boxing in the film.
An Amazon MGM Studios film. Photo Credit: Sabrina Lantos © 2024 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Regarding the casting of Brian Tyree Henry as her first trainer, Jason Crutchfield, Shields could not have been more pleased. “I think Brian Tyree Henry was spot on playing Jason Crutchfield. Back when I was a kid, Jason said we were going to have a movie about our lives one day, you know, I’m thinking he’s just talking, but I’m listening to him and I remember asking him, who would you want to play you?” Crutchfield’s first choice was Ice Cube, who initially accepted the part, but eventually had to drop out of the film due to production delays caused by COVID. Shields continued, “We were blessed with Brian Tyree Henry. And Jason is just as happy for Brian to play him. He did such a great job. I think that Brian and Ryan’s chemistry in the film shows just how magnetic me and Jason’s relationship was when I was growing up–going through the bad things and the good things and me growing up from a teenager to a grown woman.”
On February 2nd, Shields, who has won 15 belts in 5 different weight classes, spoke about her homecoming fight next year in Flint against Danielle Perkins for the WBA heavyweight title. Shields will be fighting well above her natural weight. Shields explained why she was taking the risk of moving up to a new weight class: “It’s hard to get fights with the girls who are smaller now. I moved up two weight classes to fight at heavyweight. I’m a natural 161 (pounds). I fought at 168 (in her recent TKO win over Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse) and I’ve fought at 154. Sadly, these girls talk a lot, but they don’t want to sign a contract to fight at 154, 160, or 168.”
With a major film release covering her early years in boxing coming out, Shields feels the pressure to deliver against Perkins. Danielle Perkins is a force to be reckoned with. She’s 6’ 2” and has won world championships in the amateurs. She is going to be a great challenge. It’s not an easy fight for me. I’m the greatest woman of all time, but she’s going to come into the ring weighing 195-200 pounds on fight night. So I got to really lock in. I’ve never been that big. I’m not going to be that big on fight night. I have to use everything that I have to come out on top because who wants to have a movie come out about their life across the whole nation and then have a fight and don’t perform or don’t win.”
The Fire Inside opens on Christmas Day in theaters. Shields and Perkins will meet in the ring just over one month later on February 2nd, with the fight streaming live on DAZN.
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