Ryan Destiny is set to star as Claressa “T-REX” Shields, the Flint Michigan-native, world champion boxer who is the subject of Rachel Morrison’s directorial debut film, Flint Strong. The pic, which is set up at Universal, is based on the 2015 boxing documentary T-Rex by Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper. Barry Jenkins penned the script.
At age 17, Shields’ dreams of becoming the first woman in history to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing came to fruition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Michael De Luca and Elishia Holmes are producing the pic under the Universal-based Michael De Luca Productions banner alongside Jenkins. Canepari, Cooper and Sue Jaye Johnson are executive producers, while Universal’s Erik Baiers and Tony Ducret will oversee the project for the studio.
Destiny is best known as one of the leads in Fox’s short-lived musical drama Star and will recur on the upcoming third season of Freeform’s grown-ish. She’s repped by UTA, 717 Management, and Hansen Jacobson.
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I think she will do great, and skin tones dont have to b e exact. Look at Ike Tuner in Whats Love Got to do With It. Just play the character. She did great on STAR.
This woman is not a good actress by any means. Star was horrific.
Star wasn’t really focused on the acting more the singing. Maybe we will see something different from her
She was definitely acting in it, and I got nothing. The other two leads did a better job with their roles. She was the weakest link sadly. But maybe we will see something different, at least I hope for Claressa’s sake.
great actor cant wait to see this
Umm bad choice. For reasons that should be very obvious. Find an actress that actually looks like the character.
Destiny is actually darker skinned than this photo portrays. The picture makes her look significantly lighter.