by Gill Pringle in LA
With popular actress Sydney Sweeney cast as the titular star of his boxing biopic Christy, Australian filmmaker David Michôd was all set.
But that was before Sweeney featured in a controversial American Eagle jeans ad, playing on the words good genes/good jeans – reflecting Donald Trump’s own racist remarks.
It was also before our own Ruby Rose took a swing at Sweeney for Christy’s US box office failure.
For whilst Sweeney does an excellent job in physically transforming herself into trailblazing gay professional boxer Christy Martin, Rose argued that the actress ruined the film.
“The original Christy Martin script was incredible. Life changing,” Rose wrote on Threads, having originally been attached to play a smaller role in the film.
“Everyone had experience with the core material. Most of us were actually gay. It’s part of why I stayed in acting,” asserted the Australian actress who also identifies as gay.
Notwithstanding, Michôd’s reasons for being drawn to Christy Martin’s story remain the same. “Christy’s story is almost unimaginable. It’s certainly unbelievable to me that I hadn’t heard it before. Just an incredible story,” says the Animal Kingdom and War Machine director.
“But there were three specific things that drew me to the story. After making a bunch of movies just about dudes, I was looking for something that might involve a woman with a big personality.
“There’s also the real juice of this movie, which is the stuff about coercive control and intimate partner violence, the dynamics of that relationship between Christy and Jim,” he says referring to Christy’s terrifying marriage to trainer turned manager Jim Martin, menacingly portrayed by Ben Foster.
Twenty-five years her senior, Jim was so enraged when Christy asked him for a divorce in 2010, that he stabbed and shot her, leaving her for dead. Receiving a 25-year-sentence, he died in prison a year ago.
If the marriage was largely one of convenience – Jim enabling and using Christy’s cocaine addiction to control her – Christy would finally come out after her retirement from professional boxing, seven years ago marrying former ring rival Lisa Holewyne.
“And then thirdly, I also really wanted to lean into making a movie that was emotional,” continues Michôd who co-wrote the script with his partner Mirrah Foulkes (Judy & Punch), based on a story by Katherine Fugate.
“I often feel like movies haven’t been moving me a lot in the last few years. And there was something about this story that I knew would make for a deeply emotional cinematic experience.
“And I also really liked that idea of making a film that would start almost like a traditional underdog sports biopic with a kind of rise to accomplishment. And then about halfway through would dramatically twist into something harrowing. And then, with full catharsis and everything at the end, but something deeply harrowing and deeply moving.”
If the stinging criticism of the film hasn’t been easy, then everyone stands by their work – not least the real Christy Martin, today a boxing analyst and motivational speaker.
Freely lending her time to the creation of the Christy script, she recalls that “we talked lots of crazy hours because Mirrah and Dave were in Australia and I was in Austin, Texas. So, we were kind of upside down on our time schedule, but we spent a lot of hours on the phone.
“And then Mirrah came to Florida and spent a week with me. We went to a fight. We went to the Florida Boxing Hall of Fame. She got to meet some of my fellow boxing people and entourage that I had during my career, as well as going to the house in Florida, where everything happened with Jim, and then Daytona Beach.
“We went to all the different places, introduced her to people that were the real people in my life at the time. I think it was very important, so she could get me. And that’s what you get from Sydney – the true me,” she says of the actress who packed on the muscle and dyed her hair brunette for the role.
Sweeney took the responsibility of playing a real person very seriously. “It’s a huge weight. And also, you’re intimidated and nervous. I remember the first time I was going to meet Christy, I was beyond scared. I was like, ‘Is she going to like me? Is she going to like what I’m doing?’ But within five seconds of meeting her, I was like, ‘Oh, she’s incredible and I want her around as much as we possibly can have her.’
“It was an immense tool to have. It was a gift to have her on set. I think that every single time she was there, it just changed the entire energy because everyone knew how special and important her story was and for her to be there for the crew, and then see her life unfold as we were filming was also just extraordinary and they had immense respect for her. But it’s very intimidating,” Sweeney says.
She’s not kidding.
“Honestly, I was really scared. David knows it. I would talk to him a lot about it. I was like, ‘I don’t know.’ I get nervous because I’ve played another real-life person who I got to meet and you don’t know how it’s going to go. You’re like, ‘Oh man, am I going to get really lucky with this person or is this person just going to completely be against the entire process?’” says Sweeney who played real life Air Force veteran NSA whistleblower Reality Winner in 2023 film Reality.
Her dedication to playing Christy Martin was intense. “I had about three months to prepare and I worked with a weight trainer, a boxing coach, a nutritionist – and I put on 35 pounds for the role,” says the actress who has returned to her customary svelte blonde self when we meet in Hollywood.
“I actually grew up kickboxing and grappling. I started when I was 12 and I did it until I booked Euphoria and I was 19, 20 years old. And I loved it. It’s a great thing for children to have growing up. It’s such a great physical activity, but it’s also a mental game and you learn so much to become mentally strong, and there’s an immense respect that you gain for others and for your Sensei as well.
“But boxing is different. The stances are different. The rules of the game are a little different. So, it was kind of like having to retrain my brain. And then not only was I working on building muscle and weight and learning to box again, I had to learn how to move and fight just like Christy. It was working on multiple things all at the same time.
“And every single fight you see in the movie is an actual fight from Christy’s life. It’s not like we were just making up combinations with choreography. We were actually watching every single video and replicating that exact fight,” she says, recalling how, on one occasion, Christy even got in the ring to spar with her.
“Christy changed everything for me. Having her on set, in my corner literally and figuratively, was the most powerful gift,” she says.
While it’s natural for audiences to compare the film to Hilary Swank’s performance in Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby, Michôd sees them as two very different films: “It’s Christy’s larger personal story that really roped me into the project. What I loved about the idea of this film is that the progression of the fights in the film would have some reflection on what was going on for her outside of the ring.
“It’s a movie that starts with her as just a naive, delightful ball of energy that can’t believe that she’s winning and has this talent that she’s starting to discover for herself. And then, there’s just that beautiful thrill of winning and then realising that her ascent is feeling quite rapid. And then, as the relationship starts to dig its claws into her, the fighting actually starts to become angry.”
Christy Martin appreciated everything Sweeney did for the role, “She was 100% working so hard and wanted to bring the best character that she could possibly do to this movie set,” she says.
Christy is in cinemas 8 January 2026
