“The Fire Inside,” about the survival skills of two-time middleweight Olympic gold medal winner Claressa “T-Rex” Shields inside and outside the ring, was a project with its challenges: a worldwide pandemic, studios merging, last-minute recasting of a main role (the great Brian Tyree Henry stepping in for Ice Cube). But pioneering cinematographer Rachel Morrison, the first woman to receive an Oscar nomination in that category (“Mudbound”) and to serve as director of photography on a Marvel movie (Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther”), always knew that her compelling feature directorial debut would get made. “I’m a little like Claressa,” says Morrison. “I refuse to stay down. And in the end, this was a dream come true. It couldn’t have gone smoother.”
Who encouraged you to direct a feature?
Every director I’d ever worked with. The Ryan Cooglers of the world were like, “You’ve got stories to tell, sis. You gotta get out there and tell them.” As amazing as these collaborations were, they were the ones pushing me.
“Pushing” suggests some resistance.
What gave me pause is that I love cinematography. It’s also the idea of being front and center. I like being in the background, holding my directors up. But I think the transition is natural for a cinematographer. Also, I operate [the camera]. I’m usually the one in small rooms with the actor, seeing what works for them and what doesn’t.
What called out to you about Shields’ story specifically?
I never understood why people make these broad-scoping biopics that are basically Wikipedia pages. Claressa is so inspiring, such a badass, and nobody knew her story. She’s a little more visible now — but not as visible as she should be. She was a two-time Olympic gold medalist that nobody heard of.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
And you’re both women in a profession dominated by men.
I don’t know if I could have put my finger on it then, but obviously I’m a female DP, the exception to the rule. It can’t ever be just about the work. Instead it’s, “How do you carry yourself?” “Can you hold a camera?” There were lots of hoops you have to jump through that let me know I could see my way into this.
Her story has some deeply private details. Did you show her the script before shooting began?
[Producer Barry Jenkins] and I brought her the first draft to get her to sign off on some of the more sensitive material. And she was super OK with all that.
She had no feedback? Really?
She had a few little notes. But we did have to explain to her how movies work. [Laughs] She was like, “But I destroyed everybody at the Olympics. I blew through all of them.” And I was like, “Claressa, when was the last time you saw a sports movie when [someone] bulldozes through their competition? Nobody wants to watch that.” We were never going to give anybody more points than they had, but we had to build tension. And she was like, “OK. I get it.”
Ryan Destiny stars as two-time gold-medalist Claressa Shields in “The Fire Inside.”
(Sabrina Lantos/Amazon Studios)
During prep, you took up boxing. Why?
I wanted to understand the mind of the game — what it’s like to hit and be hit. It ended up being incredibly helpful. I wanted to choreograph the boxing, to communicate emotional stakes, to tell a story with it, to know where the camera was going to have to be to sell the punch, or what it’s like to be up against the ropes. A lot of boxing movies are kind of eight cameras from outside the ring on long lenses, as opposed to in the ring moving around. I wanted a much more experiential or subjective experience.
Has directing a feature changed how you think as a cinematographer?
As a DP, you don’t realize the millions of other fires that are being put out, the microdecisions being made. I remember a moment on “Panther” where Coog was so busy he couldn’t find the time to shot-list the scene. And I’m thinking to myself, “How could you not shot-list your own scene?” Then I got to this position on [“Fire Inside”] where I’m like [to DP Rina Yang], “Rina? I need you to take a pass at this scene because I’m putting out 10,000 other fires.” And I thought, “Oh. I get it now.”
Last question: Did you ever spar with Claressa?
Hell no. [laughs] She just went up two weight classes to fight as a heavyweight, and she took the girl out in two rounds. She’s amazing.
