Rachel Morrison, the distinguished cinematography of Black Panther and Mudbound, will make Universal’s Flint Strong her feature directorial debut.
The film is based on the 2015 boxing documentary T-REX, directed by Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper.
Barry Jenkins penned the script and was going to direct, but chose to stay on as a producer instead, making room for Morrison to take on the movie.
Michael De Luca will produce via his Universal-based Michael De Luca Productions alongside Jenkins and De Luca Productions’ Elishia Holmes.
The movie tells the story of 17-year-old Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, a Flint, Michigan, native whose dreams of becoming the first woman in history to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing were realized at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Shields won a second gold medal in women’s middleweight boxing.
The studio acquired Shields’ life rights and rights to the documentary in 2016.