Cinematographer now turned director Rachel Morrison knows a thing to two about managing an impressive feat and breaking boundaries as a woman. In 2018, Morrison, best known for her work on Fruitvale Station and Black Panther, became the first female cinematographer ever nominated for an Academy Award. Reflecting on garnering her nomination for Netflix’s Mudbound, she acknowledges the hoops women in the industry have to go through. “Cinematography is a craft that nobody pictures women in. So I’m used to being the exception to the rule,” Morrison says,” Realizing [that] so many women actually can relate to this idea of it’s not enough to be good at the thing you do. You have to present a certain way and carry yourself a certain way.”
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It makes sense then that Morrison’s first foray into feature film directing, following a stint of TV directorial debuts for American Crime Story, The Mandalorian and The Morning Show, is a story about the first American woman to win an Olympic Gold Medal in Boxing. Amazon MGM Studios’ The Fire Inside, written by Barry Jenkins, is based on the true story of Michigan high schooler Claressa Shields (Ryan Destiny), who went on to become a repeat world boxing champion with the unwavering assistance of her tough-love coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry). The feature is set for theatrical release on Christmas Day.
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Here, Morrison talks to Deadline about stepping outside her comfort zone and the importance of telling female stories.
DEADLINE: How did you come aboard The Fire Inside as director?
RACHEL MORRISON: The story came to me through Barry [Jenkins] and Elishia Holmes, one of our producers, who had seen the documentary T-Rex [2015]. She brought it to Barry to write the screenplay. Barry always felt a female director was right for this one. By the time he brought me into it, there was a script, and I was able to both watch the documentary and read the script. [Ryan] Coogler and all of my director friends had been trying to push me out into the arena [of directing], and I was so hesitant. I wasn’t scared of working with actors. I was scared of this part. I’m always a part of the supporting cast. I didn’t see myself as the lead, so it took all these people I respect ganging up on me, Barry probably being the final straw and being like, “You should do this.” I was like, “Alright.”
To be fair with this script, it did speak to me. It spoke to me because it was such an important story. It’s so inspiring, so needed. I couldn’t believe I didn’t know Claressa’s story. Barry apparently didn’t either. I played sports, followed sports, and watched sports, so to have this living legend nobody knows anything about, it felt like it was a story worth telling. Then, without realizing it at the time, I recognized later that some things felt very relatable to me. Obviously not the specific experience of growing up in Flint or being a boxer, but being a female in cinematography is a craft that nobody pictures women in, right? So I’m used to being the exception to the rule. Then, I think realizing so many women actually can relate to this idea of it’s not enough to be good at the thing you do. You have to present a certain way and carry yourself a certain way.
DEADLINE: Though this is your directorial debut, you have this illustrious work in TV and cinematography beforehand. When did you decide to enter the TV space by directing The Morning Show, The Mandalorian and such? I assume that was more of a natural segue than jumping straight into feature films.
MORRISON: I was given an opportunity by John Ridley, who wrote 12 Years a Slave. We had a conversation at the Indie Spirit Awards a million years ago. But based on this conversation, his team called my DP agents and asked if I would ever consider directing. He would like me to direct an episode of American Crime Story. It hadn’t been anything I had been actively pursuing, but I also knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth. There’s so many DPs who do eight seasons of a TV show, and they’ll only come back for the ninth season if they can maybe direct an episode. Here, I was being offered the keys to the castle. Again, it was like, this person I respect sees something in me. So, I said, why don’t I see where this leads?
I did that, and it went well. Then, I did another episode for him the next season. Then, the floodgates of episodic directing opened. At that time, I still had this dream of shooting something like Black Panther, but I hadn’t done any of that stuff yet. So, somehow, I found myself on a journey I never set out on. I called my directing agents and was like, “Don’t call me, I’ll call you.” I was shooting for a bunch more years, and then it wasn’t until after Black Panther and Mudbound that I found myself reading scripts that I felt weren’t moving the needle forward. Few people were making these big scope-y dramas, which is what I’d always wanted to do. So, I thought I was maybe ready and that I’d rather take a new challenge and try to grow again and see if there’s a story worth investing in and taking a gamble on myself. So, it was not until Barry and Elishia brought me this script that it felt worthy of my time to direct. The Morning Show and Mandalorian, so that was during the pandemic. We shut down for a while, but the shows were shooting in LA. So, I took advantage of wanting to stay at home and be near my small children, and I think it was good practice to gain my directing chops. I’m proud of all these shows. I grew from them. By the time I got to this feature, I was so excited to have it be mine and be able to have a singular vision and turn that vision all the way through post. It was time. I was ready.
DEADLINE: You’ve been showing this movie throughout festivals and at critic screenings before it’s release in theaters on Christmas Day, has there been any reaction that has stood out to you?
MORRISON: Seeing how various audience members respond has been incredible. People don’t cry at the same moments, right? Some middle-aged white men were in tears. As a filmmaker, I think the whole goal is to build empathy by putting people in other people’s shoes. So, when it works, there’s something so rewarding about it. And then, in light of recent events, a woman at the last screening said, “We need this story. We need to see Black women win,” which is a whole other level. It’s all been so humbling, beautiful and inspiring.
DEADLINE: How do you relate Claressa’s experience to your own career? You made history by being the first female cinematographer to be nominated at the Oscars in 2018. So, in a way, you’re also this coincidental trailblazer. What are some things that keep you going when winning isn’t enough?
MORRISON: You went right to the heart of another thing that I definitely could relate to, like Claressa, you get this medal, you get a nomination, and you still have to get up and start all over the next day. Like Claressa, I have a bit of this unwavering belief in myself and faith that things will work out if you put in the work. Nobody works harder than she does. The memorable things are the times that I’ve taken chances on myself. I had a pretty mind-numbing but safe career in reality television, but it was never where I wanted to be. Where I wanted to be was [making] a version of Fruitvale Station. I had a conversation with Ilyse McKimmie and inadvertently described my perfect movie. A year later, Ryan was looking for a DP and was talking to her about it. She remembered. I put it out into the world that what I’d like to be doing was shooting for Fruitvale Station, not shooting The Hills.
Then again, where I got as a cinematographer to say, “I’m going to start all over, and I’m going to direct,” most people would not do that. Most people would think that was crazy. There are probably moments where I have questioned it myself, but I also always believe in pushing. My life is short, and I want to keep growing. I want to keep learning. I want to keep challenging myself. This story was worth taking a chance on. I’ve been offered things to direct for the better part of 10 years, and nothing else felt worthy of that risk and the time. I didn’t know it would be this much time, but this film felt worth it.
DEADLINE: Surely, there’s a lot of pressure in adapting someone’s story for the camera, especially while they are still living. Talk about that experience of adapting Claressa’s story.
MORRISON: She’s very opinionated [laughs]. I placed an inordinate amount of pressure on myself to get it right. I can’t imagine having the movie version of my life where somebody else plays me, my mom or my coach. So, I wanted it to feel true for her all the while we’re compressing time into 109 minutes. We brought her into the process enough to make sure we had her blessing with some of the more sensitive moments. If this goes well, we are really putting this out in the world. We want to make sure that you’re comfortable with how we’re planning to handle it, and how much we’re saying. She completely signed off there. Ironically, at the time, she was like, “But I destroyed everybody at the Olympics.” I was like, “Claressa, nobody wants to watch a sports movie where you bulldoze everything in your path.”
We talked about how in the movie version of her life, we’re not ever going to say that anybody had more points than they did, but that we’re going to build up the [narrative] to make it a more even and exciting match. She was like, “OK, I get it.” We tried to walk her through every step of the way so that it didn’t feel like a massive surprise. The most important thing to me was that she liked the movie and, thankfully, loved it [laughs].
DEADLINE: Talk about this dynamic you helped craft between Brian Tyree Henry and Ryan Destiny. Specifically, I’m thinking about their arguments. They feel so realistic between them as a close pair, coach and student.
MORRISON: I would say the one consistent thing in all the work I do, from Fruitvale to Mandalorian, is a real intentionality to be subjective with my characters and reflect the emotional stakes. What that often means is close-eye lines and really connecting the audience with the character the way that you and I are having a conversation as opposed to profile shots or being fancy and having the camera moving for no reason. [It means] always mirroring back the emotional arc through the camera work. A lot of what people are feeling between them is just a deeply subjective, intimate camera. You’re in the moment together with the characters. You’re in the ring together. You’re in the fight together. The chemistry between Brian and Ryan was palpable. It was really magnetic. What you see on screen, I think we all felt from almost day one, and that was such a gift. And then, in terms of humanity, some of that is their performance for sure.
We’ve all seen Brian play these larger-than-life, amazingly magnetic characters with charisma, and all the things. But to see him be human and grounded is a whole other level, right? Then, the gift we all had was this documentary based on these real people. So, I think drawing from real people, and these fights helps you understand moments like when Claressa is stubborn, and she just lost, and Jason gets in her face; that’s a real moment from the doc. So, we had a blessing of being able to humanize things that way to get those performances.
DEADLINE: What would you like audiences to take away from this film?
MORRISON: For me, it’s all about resilience and inspiration. I’m thrilled that people are recognizing the crafts and the performances and all the things, but what I want is butts in the seats on Christmas Day [laughs]. I want this movie to have a reach. I want people who need the messaging to understand why it can be trickier to be a female athlete. It’s not as simple as the physical differences. It’s this whole other beast of having to be perceived through these other lenses. I’m not trying to preach to the choir, but I really hope that we bring a wide swath of people into the mix to see the film and hopefully understand things in a different way.
[This interview has been edited for length and clarity]