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Who Is Claressa Shields in ‘The Fire Inside?’

How Accurate is ‘The Fire Inside’ to Shields’ Story?

The holidays are nearing their end, and for anyone eager to go back to the theater, there are an unusual number of good options to choose from. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a jolly surprise and the best in its franchise, Nosferatu continues Robert Eggers’ horror hot-streak, and the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown is incredibly solid. Of course, there’s also the option to rewatch a little film called Wicked yet again.
However, one of the most unexpected surprises was The Fire Inside, the directorial debut of Black Panther cinematographer Rachel Morrison. The film tells the true story of Claressa Shields (Ryan Destiny), a high-schooler and aspiring boxer looking to compete in the Olympics. With help from her trainer, Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry), she becomes the first American woman to win the gold medal for boxing. While the movie doesn’t hit any unexpected beats in the sports biopic template, it hits them all with panache and thus feels incredibly uplifting rather than manipulative, proving one of the best-reviewed films of the month. But how accurate is the film to the true story of Claressa Shields?

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Release Date

December 25, 2024

Director

Rachel Morrison

Runtime

109 minutes

Cast

Ryan Destiny
, Jazmin Headley
, Kylee D. Allen
, Brian Tyree Henry
, De’Adre Aziza
, Chrystian Buddington
, Maurice Wayne Anglin
, Teanna Weir

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Who Is Claressa Shields in ‘The Fire Inside?’

As The Fire Inside depicts, Claressa Shields was born and raised in Flint, Michigan, spending her childhood in a tense household. Her mother was an alcoholic, while her father was imprisoned, and Shields had even been molested at a young age. She quickly became interested in boxing and turned to the sport mainly as a way to channel her anger.
In 2012, when Shields was 17 and a high school junior, she entered the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in China, hoping to win a spot at the Olympics in London. While she lost her second round to Savannah Marshall, a British boxer, she earned enough points to qualify as one of the top eight contestants. Eventually, Shields faced off against Russian Nadezda Torlopova in the finals in London and emerged victorious, winning the gold medal.

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However, in a clever subversion of the sports genre, this victory occurs two-thirds of the way through the film, as the final third accurately depicts Shields’ life afterward. She returned to Flint without any endorsements, as potential backers believed there was no money in promoting women’s boxing. Additionally, many were turned off by her raw attitude in interviews, specifically one in which she claimed to enjoy beating people up.
Shields became depressed and briefly contemplated giving up boxing entirely. However, she eventually decided against it and soon began training for the 2016 Olympics. While the movie mostly compresses this stretch of the story to archival footage shown before the end credits, it details how Shields won a gold medal again, becoming the first American boxer, male or female, to win two consecutive Olympic Games.
How Accurate is ‘The Fire Inside’ to Shields’ Story?

Claressa Shields served as an executive producer on The Fire Inside and thus had a lot of creative input on the story. As she detailed to Entertainment Weekly, “Before Barry Jenkins wrote the script, we met in person and talked for almost five hours. I let him speak first about what he thought my story was, and when he got done talking, I said, ‘Well, you had a few key parts, but this is what I want to tell, what I want them to understand about me. When he wrote his script a few months later and sent it to me, he got it just right.” As such, most of the film is accurate to Shields’ experiences in real life.
To begin with, the movie gets Shields’ personal life right almost note for note. It unflinchingly depicts how fraught her family was, from her mother’s severe alcoholism to the distance she felt from her father after he spent nine years in prison. Boxing became her emotional escape, thanks in part to support from Jason Crutchfield, who still works as a personal trainer to this day. Additionally, a subplot early on explores Shields becoming romantically interested in her sparring partner before putting their relationship on hold so she can prioritize her Olympic training — this also actually happened.

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The Fire Inside accurately emphasizes Shields’ impact on the sport itself. For years, women’s boxing was seen largely as a curiosity, and Shields has continued to spend her years since her first Olympics win advocating for equal pay for her peers. However, since Rachel Morrison and Barry Jenkins were mostly concerned with making a compelling film, they did take some creative liberties here and there. One of the biggest involves Shields’ unflinching determination to win the gold in 2012, and the support she received from her team. In actuality, many of her supporters were worried about her chances after she only barely qualified in China, and Shields herself was ambivalent about actually winning gold.
Additionally, a climactic scene near the end was almost entirely created for the film. After the 2012 Olympics, Shields considered getting rid of her medal, but the movie shows her trying to pawn it to get money for her family. The broker secretly calls her mother, who convinces her not to sell it. However, despite these minor changes, The Fire Inside is largely accurate to the spirit of Claressa Shields’ story, how she made history in and outside the ring, and how her career is still going strong to this day. The Fire Inside is now playing in theaters.