{"id":13653,"date":"2016-07-27T08:09:54","date_gmt":"2016-07-27T16:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=13653"},"modified":"2020-08-07T15:50:58","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T22:50:58","slug":"filmmakers-americas-first-woman-gold-medalist-in-boxing","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/filmmakers-americas-first-woman-gold-medalist-in-boxing\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Ring with the USA’s First Women’s Boxing Olympic Gold Medalist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper<\/strong>‘s film <\/span>T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold<\/span><\/i><\/a>\u00a0tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, who at the 2012 London Olympics became the first American woman to win a Gold medal in boxing. After a long,\u00a0hard road coming out of Flint, Michigan, Shields entered Rio 2016 as the number one ranked woman in the world as she strives for another Gold.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The filmmaking duo connected with producer Sue Jaye Johnson<\/strong>, who had been\u00a0documenting Shields for several years, starting with “T-Rex’s” first elite boxing tournament, and spearheaded an unprecedented collaboration between The New York Times<\/em>, NPR, and WNYC to document the first women to box in the Olympics. \u201cTeen Contender<\/a>,\u201d that Peabody Award-winning radio documentary Johnson\u00a0co-produced with Radio Diaries, followed Claressa\u2019s journey to the Olympics. Canepari and Cooper, who’ve been working together since 2009 and were named to\u00a0Filmmaker<\/i> Magazine<\/i>\u2019s Top 25 New Filmmakers to Watch list, collaborated with Johnson and T-Rex<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>was on its way.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zack and Drea have been busy working on several projects (more on that below), but Johnson, who is an integral part of T-Rex<\/em> getting made and distributed, answered collectively for the three of them. T-Rex<\/em> was recently a New York Times<\/em> Critic Pick<\/a>: <\/em>“You don’t have to be a boxing fan to be awed by Claressa Shields, the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the sport. But if you are, you’ll still be knocked out.”<\/p>\n

When did you first become aware of Claressa’s story and what compelled you to want to follow her for awhile to make a movie about it?<\/b><\/p>\n

Sue:<\/b> Five years ago, I started boxing. There were so many lessons in the ring for me \u2014 about pulling punches and dealing with fear and pressure. I was curious what other women were getting out of hitting the heavy bags… and each other. 2012 was the first year women were allowed to box in the Olympic games so I started photographing and interviewing the women who were hoping to make history for The New York Times Magazine<\/em>, WNYC, and NPR.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the last Olympic qualifier, a quiet 16-year-old girl scored a TKO in the first round. She was so unrestrained \u2014 so dominant. It was Claressa\u2019s first fight against adult women. No one had seen her box before. I teamed up with Radio Diaries [for “Teen Contender”] and we gave Claressa a recorder and mic to document her attempts to make the Olympic team. The stakes were so high. Here was this kid from Flint with an oversized dream and everything was against her. It was so clear that her story needed to be a film, too. But the Olympics were coming up fast and I\u2019d never made a film before.<\/span><\/p>\n

Enter Zack Canepari and Drea Cooper. They had been working on a series called California is a place.<\/a> and they were making an MTV pilot about girl fighters. They met Claressa in Flint and recognized immediately how determined she was to rise above a very chaotic life in Flint. [Her coach] Jason [Crutchfield] knew we were all interested in making a film and he connected us.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was an arranged marriage. We spoke on the phone, hammered out the details of how we would work together, and we met for the first time on the road filming Claressa\u2019s international debut in Canada. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We filmed for 18 months from Claressa\u2019s 17th birthday through her high school graduation, and then some. In between, she had her first loss, won the gold medal, fell in love, split with Jason, and learned how to maintain her balance through it all.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Drea

Zack Canepari, Sue Jaye Johnson, and Drea Cooper<\/p><\/div>\n

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in making this film?<\/b><\/p>\n

Like Claressa, we weren\u2019t sure what was going to happen after the gold medal. When she got home from London, Claressa\u2019s phone was ringing off the hook, but that didn\u2019t lead to any big opportunities or support for Claressa and Jason. She’s the one who supports her younger brother and sister \u2014 and her mom. She\u2019d been focused on London for so long, she didn\u2019t know what came next. Should she go pro? Get a job? Go to college? Start a \u00a0family? And then Claressa and Jason went their separate ways. We kept shooting and realized the film would have a solid third act. Maybe a fourth and fifth act. Making a narrative structure out of that, where the Olympics happen two-thirds of the way through, that was a challenge. And then \u2014 wrapping up filming. There was always something dramatic going on in her life \u2014 and in Flint. We shot enough to have made a sequel.<\/span><\/p>\n

How did you gain the trust of Claressa and Jason and the other people featured in <\/b>T-Rex<\/i><\/b>?<\/b><\/p>\n

It made a mark on Jason that we were there early, that we immediately understood how exceptional Claressa\u2019s was, how much was at stake and how hard they had worked to get where they were. And that we were committed for the long haul. They knew Claressa was going to make history and they wanted their story told.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the process was valuable. For Jason, listening to those early interviews was the first time he heard Claressa open up about her life. He knew she was often hungry at home and unsupervised \u2014 she would call him up in the middle of the night for a meal and a place to sleep, but she was quiet and never talked about it. Not even on their 12-hour drives to tournaments. The microphone and cameras were permission to talk about difficult stuff.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, Jason and Claressa are real partners in this project. It is not a passive experience being documented 24\/7 for nearly two years. We were all there with a job to do and everyone was working really hard. We all recognized that in each other. No one changed what they were saying or doing when the cameras were on. And we spent a lot of time together not filming, just hanging out.<\/span><\/p>\n