Making The Fire Inside
Watching The Fire Inside, the directorial debut of Mudbound’s Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison, ASC, you may feel like you’re leafing through a family photo album of a hometown hero who went on to shake the world. For their film, Morrison and director of photography Rina Yang, BSC have crafted a look that is both down-to-earth yet also larger-than-life. Each scene strives to capture the intimacy of a snapshot while simultaneously amplifying the mythology of a young woman who overcomes all obstacles to make history at the Olympics. The movie is based on the documentary T-Rex, which tells the real-life story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed in The Fire Inside by Ryan Destiny), a young Black boxer from Flint, Michigan, who fought her way to winning consecutive gold medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Numerous boxing matches give the film its kinetic energy, but at its heart, the movie is about family. Despite shooting primarily in Toronto, Morrison desired that Shields’ hometown of Flint be genuinely portrayed on the screen and personally led the second unit — dubbed the “Flint Unit” in the credits — to capture the city that in 2014 was plagued by a water crisis when lead and bacteria contaminated its water supply. Claressa’s rise to Olympic glory during this fractious time demonstrates the human potential to ascend difficult conditions and inspire everyone around her. Here is a conversation with the makers of The Fire Inside.