Ryan Destiny was first cast as Claressa “T-Rex” Shields all the way back in 2019. Over the next several years, the biopic about the boxing champion and Olympic gold medalist endured repeated delays in filming, leading Destiny to question whether the film would even happen. Following its premiere at the 2024 Toronto Film Festival, “The Fire Inside” will open on Christmas Day and has earned Destiny a nomination for Best Lead Performance at the 2025 Independent Spirit Awards. Speaking to Gold Derby, Destiny says that the film’s long journey makes the reaction to the film all the more special. “It took so many different twists and turns,” she admits. “So to finally be at this sort of finish line feels so great, and I’m just very grateful and thankful to finally be at this point.”
“The Fire Inside” is the the first directorial effort of Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison; the script is by Oscar winner Barry Jenkins. The film documents the young Shields as she trains for the 2012 Olympic Games under the tutelage of her loving but no-nonsense coach Jason Crutchfield, played by Emmy and Tony nominee Brian Tyree Henry. After becoming the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing, she faces repeated obstacles to capitalize on her success and escape her impoverished family life.
Despite the emotional roller-coaster of the film’s many starts and stops, Destiny didn’t alter the approach to her work. “I was always very grateful for the opportunity. I knew how special the story was, and I knew how rare an opportunity like this was from the get go,” she explains. “But having it go through what it did, and it almost not happening anymore, definitely switched my mindset completely and just made me want to dive in even deeper and go even harder, train harder. Doing whatever I need to do times 10 and just make sure that I do it right.”
Destiny admits that working with folks like Morrison, Jenkins, and Henry was initially intimidating. “It’s just a little scary and you want to make sure you show up because you know they will,” she jokes before describing how the atmosphere on set was one of support and play. “They really just say me, and let me really have that safe space to play, to fail, and to do whatever I needed to do an support me in whatever I needed to do.”
Though the film captures Shields’s path to becoming an Olympic champion, Destiny believes that it was also important to remember that at the time, Shields was still just a teenager. “She doesn’t start out as this completely-confident-in-herself type of boxer,” she says. “There were moments that grew her into that. So those little vulnerable moments were really fun for me and some of my favorite parts.”
Although Destiny didn’t meet Shields until after the Olympian saw the finished movie, Destiny feels as though a bit of Shields’s personality — specifically her confidence — has stayed with the actress. “I had to truly step into her shoes,” Destiny says. “And I think that I really do have a new trust for myself as well, and can listen to my instincts even more and have a bit more confidence than when I started. And things like that, I think I’ve taken away from her a little bit.”
“The Fire Inside” opens Christmas Day.
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