After a nearly five-year journey that included studio turnaround, cast changes, and a pandemic, Rachel Morrison‘s feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside, is finally hitting theaters. But for the Oscar-nominated cinematographer, there remains a feeling that there’s still more to do. “On one hand, it feels like the dream sort of fairy-tale ending to this long journey … I couldn’t be happier,” Morrison tells Gold Derby. “And on the other hand I’m still like, ‘Please go see the movie.’ I’m still banging on doors.”
The Fire Inside follows Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, a Michigan teenager who becomes the first American to not only win the Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, but to do so in consecutive Olympic games. With the help of her coach, Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry), Shields (Ryan Destiny) brings home the gold, but finds herself frustrated by her inability to translate her success into high-paying endorsement to lift her and her family out of poverty.
Morrison says that she was excited about the opportunity to “upend” the traditional sports film, delivering something that goes beyond the big win. “For Claressa to have so many more obstacles actually after the win and then still pick herself up and keep fighting,” she explains, “I find that more inspiring than any of the incredible athleticism she displayed inside the ring.”
The first-time filmmaker says she did her best to avoid the stereotypical “inspirational” sports-movie moments. “I do have an aversion to schmaltz and sometimes think it would be easier for me, as a creative, if I didn’t,” she explains. “In the moment where somebody is really emotional and crying, I’m not pushing the camera in to make a ‘moment’ out of it. It’s just kind of standing back and letting them experience what they’re experiencing.”
In creating the atmosphere on her first movie set as a director, Morrison drew from her experiences as a cinematographer — both positive and negative — to create an environment where positivity and productivity were the key. “I hired people whose work I really respected and then tried to give them support and gratitude and a long leash to do their jobs,” she says. “Nobody does their best anything when they’re being puppeted or micromanaged.”
For Morrison, who was the first woman to be an Oscar nominee for cinematography (for 2017’s Mudbound), sees certain parallels between her own history-making career and Shields’ triumphs in the ring. “I think it’s more to do with being the exception to the rule,” she argues. “For Claressa, being a female boxer in a sport that people don’t picture women in. For me, being a female cinematographer in a craft that people don’t picture women in.” However, Morrison also believes that both women have taken their success and pivoted to other ventures as a means of continuing to challenge themselves. “Actually I didn’t even think about this,” she confesses. “It’s very similar for Claressa to go off and do [mixed martial arts] and for me to to direct. It’s like were going to start from the bottom again, find some new challenges, and keep pushing ourselves.”
