Sydney Sweeney on stepping into the ring — and Oscar contention — for ‘Christy’: ‘I lost myself in this character’
Denton Davidson
When Sydney Sweeney first read the script for Christy, she was in tears before the final page. “By the end of the script I was bawling my eyes out,” she tells Gold Derby. “I couldn’t even begin to imagine that this story was true — that a real woman had gone through all of this.”
The real woman behind that story is Christy Martin, the trailblazing boxer who broke into the male-dominated world of 1990s prizefighting and became one of the sport’s first female stars. Directed by David Michôd (Animal Kingdom, The King) and co-written with Mirrah Foulkes, Christy follows Martin’s rise to fame and the abusive marriage that nearly cost her life. The film is produced by Black Bear Pictures and opens exclusively in theaters Nov. 7.
“I told David in our first Zoom that he wouldn’t recognize me,” Sweeney says. “I will lose myself in this character. I want to transform for Christy. She deserves nothing less.”
The fighter’s spirit
While fans might know Sweeney best for Euphoria or The White Lotus, the two-time Emmy nominee came to Christy with a surprising background. “I grew up kickboxing and grappling since I was 12,” she says. “It was my favorite thing to do. I did it three times a week and I’d like to say I was pretty good at it.”
That experience gave her a head start, but boxing demanded a whole new skill set. “Kickboxing and boxing are quite different,” she explains. “I had to relearn my stance, my combinations — everything. And I wasn’t just learning to box; I was learning to fight like Christy. Every fight in the movie is one of her real fights.”
She trained under Matt Baiamonte and Grant Roberts, who also coached Hilary Swank for Million Dollar Baby. “I wanted to do it hard,” Sweeney says. “We were hitting each other. I kept telling everyone, ‘Hit me.’ I knew that Christy came to life in the ring — you can’t fake that.”
That commitment came at a cost. “I got a concussion. There were some bloody noses,” she admits. “But I wanted it to feel real. That’s where her personality shines.”
Beyond the ropes
Christy isn’t just a sports drama. Michôd describes it as “a wild underdog sports movie that morphs into a kind of very real horror story,” exploring the blurred line between ambition and abuse.
“I had Christy in my corner,” Sweeney says of preparing for the film’s most difficult scenes. “She gave me so much insight into what she lived through.” Working opposite Ben Foster, who plays her trainer and husband Jim Martin, felt familiar. “Ben is an amazing scene partner. I felt safe in every single regard. Neither of us like to rehearse — we like to discover things in the moment, to listen to each other. That made those scenes raw and real.”
The real Christy Martin says revisiting her past wasn’t easy but it was worth it. “Some of those moments were a lot of fun in the boxing ring,” she recalls. “Some were not too kind. But I think by doing that — putting my life out there the way they did — it’s going to change lives. This is a movie that, in 20 years, people are going to show their daughters and say, ‘This is not who I want you to be.’”
Awards buzz
When Christy premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, the audience gave a rare standing ovation. “I was crying,” Sweeney says. “It meant so much. I’m proud of the film, and I’m proud that people are finally seeing Christy’s story. She says she hopes this movie will save lives — and I really hope so too.”
With Christy drawing festival heat, Sweeney has emerged as a serious Best Actress contender this awards season. “Of course it means a lot,” she says. “But I always said I cared what Christy thought. When she went to watch it, I was waiting by the phone — her opinion mattered above anyone. Having her support, and the reaction we’ve been receiving, is incredibly honoring.”
Sitting beside her, Martin shared her reaction to Sweeney’s portrayal. “I don’t know about performances from other movies and how you guys are really graded,” she says. “But what I know is that when I watch the movie myself, I feel emotions. I have to think that someone that’s not me has to feel it, too. As an actor, you want to move people — and I think Sydney does it.”
From small-town Idaho to Hollywood
For Sweeney, producing the film through her company Fifty-Fifty Films was as personal as it was professional. “Producing challenges me in new ways,” she says. “I love being part of telling important stories about complex women trying to find themselves — whether that’s Christy or my next film, Scandalous!. Every project teaches me something new.”
Sweeney’s own journey carries echoes of Martin’s determination. “I grew up in a small town in Idaho where you’re raised to be a clerk or a housewife,” she says. “When I told my parents I wanted to act, they thought it was like saying I wanted to be a princess.”
That skepticism didn’t last long. “I put together a five-year business plan to convince them to let me audition for a tiny indie film,” she laughs. “They realized I wasn’t going to stop asking — so they let me try, and I booked it. It was something new and exciting for all of us.”
Now, Sweeney is channeling that same drive into her next role — portraying screen legend Kim Novak in Scandalous!, a film she also produced and enlisted her Euphoria costar, Colman Domingo, to direct. “I put it together and took it to Miramax and brought Colman on to direct,” she says. “It’s about Kim Novak and Sammy Davis Jr., and I’m really excited to dive into that.”
