The Fire Inside's Brian Tyree Henry & Ryan Destiny Reveal Their Gold Medal Equivalent Priceless Keepsakes

Brian Tyree Henry and Ryan Destiny have teamed up for The Fire Inside. Henry has been on a roll in recent years, parlaying his breakout success from Atlanta into roles in blockbuster franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Godzilla x Kong, and Transformers. Destiny's breakout role is in The Fire Inside itself, as she received critical acclaim when the film played at the festival circuit this past fall.

That praise for Destiny came for her leading role as Claressa Shields in The Fire Inside. Known to many today as a four-weight world champion boxer and two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, Shields is one of the most accomplished combat sports athletes of all time. Destiny's portrayal chronicles Shields's teenage years up to her first run at the Olympic Games. By her side throughout it all is Coach Jason Crutchfield, portrayed by Henry. Crutchfield's coaching goes beyond the squared circle, as The Fire Inside shows how he evolved into a father figure for Shields throughout her coming of age.

In celebration of The Fire Inside's theatrical release, ScreenRant spoke with Henry and Destiny to discuss what prized possessions in their lives equate to Shields's gold medal, how Destiny ensured her portrayal of Shields was that of a rootable protagonist, and whether a sequel to Transformers One is in Henry's future.

Henry & Destiny Reveal Their Gold Medal-Equivalent Keepsakes

The Actors Cited Jewelry, Photo Albums, And An Original Nintendo

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ScreenRant: There's a great moment late in this film where Claressa is thinking about pawning her gold medal and her mother interferes. Do each of you have a possession in your life that, no matter what happens financially, that item is priceless and needs to stay with you?

Brian Tyree Henry: I would if I wasn't so cheap. Ryan Destiny: No, literally (laughs). Brian Tyree Henry: My mother bought a lot of costume jewelry from consignment stores and things like that, but there's a necklace of hers that she used to wear all the time, and when she passed, I kind of went through all her stuff and the one thing I wanted the most was her jewelry. It's a really wonderful, cool necklace that I'm pretty sure the value of it when she got it must've been 20 bucks, 30 bucks, but to me it's priceless. It literally hangs in my house over a picture of her. I used to wear it on my press junkets all the time. The value of it, over time, especially with my success, it just became more valuable. It's something that I know I would never part with, no matter how much money anyone offered, I would not be able to part with it. Ryan Destiny: That reminds me, there's a lot of photo albums that my family had collected. Just a lot of times over the years with actual physical photos, a lot of my baby pictures and pictures of my grandma and grandpa and all of those things. I don't have them actually in anything digital. If something happened to that photo album, I think I'd lose my mind. Brian Tyree Henry: And my 1988 original Nintendo. I'll fight. I promise on everything. I own that thing. I mean, it still works. I still got to blow on the cartridges.

Destiny Brought "Humanity" To Portrayal Of Shields

"I knew that there were so many more layers to Claressa that people hadn't seen before..."

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Claressa, on paper, I feel like is not a very rootable protagonist. She wins all the time and she embraces the fact that she's a bully. Yet you portray her as so lovable. We know the real Claressa is a hero in real life. What did you bring to this character to make sure we, as the audience, are still rooting for her despite all of her success?

Ryan Destiny: Yeah, I guess that sense of humanity. I knew that there were so many more layers to Claressa than people hadn't seen before. Being able to see footage of her at 16, at 17 years old and really seeing just the root of who she was and her literal just spirit and soul. She does have a lot of soft spots. She is kind. She does care about our community. She does care about her siblings and her mom and her dad. All of those things were just really important to make sure that people connected on a human level and didn't just see all of the victories and the times where she is confident in more of a fighter mode. It makes those moments even more rewarding. I thought it was just really important to be handled with, I guess a sort of delicacy and care. Those were my favorite parts to be able to portray, to be quite honest. Just a lot of the vulnerable moments. That was really fun for me.

Henry Is Optimistic About A Transformers One Sequel

"We still got to see what happens with Megatron and Optimus..."

Brian, before we get out of here, thank you for bringing my childhood to life earlier this summer with Transformers One. It touched my heart. I grew up on that cartoon. Is there any chance we're going to get a sequel to that movie? I know they were talking about it over at Paramount.

Brian Tyree Henry: Well, you can't have a Transformers One in the title without having a Transformers Two. You know what I mean? We still got to see what happens with Megatron and Optimus.

About The Fire Inside

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THE FIRE INSIDE is the inspirational true story of Claressa Shields, arguably the greatest female boxer of all time. Claressa, a high school Junior from Flint, Michigan, aided by her tough-love coach, Jason Crutchfield, pushes past all limitations to become the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing. But even at the pinnacle of success, Claressa has to reckon with the fact that not all dreams are created equal, and the real fight has only just begun.

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The Fire Inside is now in theaters.

Source: ScreenRant Plus