The Fire Inside (film)

The Fire Inside is an upcoming American biographical sports film by Rachel Morrison in her feature directional debut. The film is based on T-Rex, a 2015 documentary about American professional boxer Claressa "T-Rex" Shields training for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Ryan Destiny stars as the lead, alongside Judy Greer and Brian Tyree Henry.

Development began in October 2016 with Barry Jenkins adapting the documentary for Universal Pictures under the title Flint Strong. Morrison joined to direct in June 2019 with Michael De Luca, Elishia Holmes, Zackary Canepari, and Drea Cooper to produce alongside Jenkins. Destiny was added in November, and Ice Cube and Greer were cast in early 2020. Filming began in Toronto in March 2020, but was halted two days later due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was scheduled to resume in June 2021. However, Cube left in October and Universal put the film in turnaround. It was then picked up by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in May 2022 with Henry and Oluniké Adeliyi joining the cast and filming resuming that month.

The Fire Inside is scheduled to be released in theaters on December 25, 2024, by Amazon MGM Studios through their Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer label.

Plot
Claressa "T-Rex" Shields trains to box in the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Cast

 * Ryan Destiny as Claressa "T-Rex" Shields
 * Judy Greer
 * Brian Tyree Henry as Jason Crutchfield
 * Oluniké Adeliyi as Jackie Shields
 * De'Adre Aziza as Mickey

Production
On October 7, 2016, Universal Pictures hired Barry Jenkins to adapt the 2015 documentary T-Rex with the possibility to direct the film. On June 19, 2019, Rachel Morrison was set to make her directorial debut on Flint Strong; Jenkins would produce with Michael De Luca and Elishia Holmes, while Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper, who worked on T-Rex would serve as executive producers.

On November 13, 2019, Ryan Destiny was cast as Claressa "T-Rex" Shields. On February 5, 2020, Ice Cube was cast as Shields' coach, Jason Crutchfield. Judy Greer was added on May 14. However, on October 29, 2021, it was reported that Cube had left the project after refusing to get vaccinated for COVID-19 to film Oh Hell No (now titled Stepdude) for Columbia Pictures, putting the film in turnaround.

Principal photography began at Cinespace Film Studios in Toronto on March 11, 2020, but on March 13, production was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In an interview with The Guardian, Shields stated that production was set to resume in June 2021. However, the project entered a long delay due to being offloaded by Universal. It would be picked up by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and on May 25, 2022, Brian Tyree Henry joined the cast to replace Cube and Oluniké Adeliyi joined to play Shields' mother, with filming resuming later that month. On July 6, 2022, De'Adre Aziza joined the cast as Mickey, Crutchfield's wife.

Release
The film is scheduled for release on December 25, 2024. It was originally set to be released on August 9, 2024.