As Sydney Sweeney, the renowned actress who frequently graces headlines with every move she makes on and off screen, were not the focal point, viewers might not have immediately recognized the Euphoria star transforming into groundbreaking former professional boxer Christy Salters Martin in the sports biopic Christy. Sweeney, who gained 35 pounds, donned brown contact lenses, a variety of late-’80s and early-’90s mullet-style brunette wigs, and trained with a dialect coach to mimic the real-life athlete’s thick West Virginia accent, shares, "When I looked in the mirror for the first time, I was like, 'Whoa.' I didn't even recognize myself."
As an actor, Sweeney dreams of roles that allow her to lose herself completely, and she was able to do that with Christy. The film chronicles Christy’s resilient journey, starting from her teenage years as a basketball player at Mullens High School, where she was in a same-sex relationship disapproved by her conservative parents. The boxing arena, which Christy entered in 1989 at the age of 21, proved equally closed-minded, leading the young talent to hide her sexual identity. Just two years later, in 1991, Christy married her 47-year-old boxing coach, Jim Martin (played by Ben Foster), who became increasingly controlling and physically and financially abusive as she climbed the ropes of the industry.
Sweeney admits that when she first read the script for Christy, she was shocked to realize she had no prior knowledge of her story. "I'd never heard of her before, and automatically, I was like, 'OK, that means I need to make sure this happens,'" she says. And there was no hesitancy on her part about taking on the role. "But I was definitely intimidated," Sweeney notes. "I knew it was going to be an immense challenge and weight on my shoulders."
Celebrity personal trainer Grant Roberts and world champion boxing trainer Matt Baiamonte aided Sweeney in her physical transformation into the 2009 super welterweight titleholder. Sweeney's background in kickboxing and grappling since the age of 12 and even working with Ronda Rousey's sensei Gene LeBell prepared her for the challenge but getting into shape to face an unknown opponent and training to replicate a former champion's unique fighting style required a new focus.
"Every single fight that you see in the movie is one of Christy’s real fights," Sweeney explains. "So it wasn't like I was just learning boxing and we were randomly making up all these fights. We actually pulled real combinations from her specific fights and incorporated that into every fight in the movie, so I was learning how to box like Christy, her exact moves, everything."
That effort continued throughout the two months of filming for the Black Bear Pictures project, which premiered at TIFF and made its theatrical debut in November. (The film is currently available for streaming On Demand.) Sweeney would wake up an hour before her call time to do an hour of weight training, film for 14 hours, have an hour to two hours of fight choreography, try to get another hour of weight training in at home, and then ice her entire body.
Beyond embodying Christy’s physical presence, Sweeney had emotional touchpoints to hit as well, especially concerning Christy’s fear and shame around Jim’s abuse. "The scene with Merritt [Wever] when Christy was trying to ask for her mom’s help was really hard," the actress confesses. "It was hard on a personal level because I have such an amazing mom who has supported me in everything that I’ve done, and I felt so much for Christy and for others who might not have parents they can turn to like that."
Christy was a part of the creative process from the very beginning and regularly came to set and even sat in on some of Sweeney’s training sessions. "I was so nervous, like, 'Please be proud of me,'" Sweeney admits. "[Christy] said that she’d sign me up and promote me as a fighter if I wanted to because I’m actually pretty good."
Christy’s praise for Sweeney has continued post-premiere, even as the film had a lackluster showing at the box office, bringing in just $1.3 million in its opening weekend. In a mid-November post on Instagram, Christy wrote, "Syd not only worked her ass off for this film, she worked her ass off for me. For my story. For so many others suffering in silence. So I want to be clear about who Syd is. She is my friend and ally!"
Sweeney has also garnered critical acclaim for her portrayal, receiving the Spotlight Award at the SCAD Film Festival in October. "I put a lot of love and hard work into this," Sweeney says. "It feels good that people are recognizing that and that the story is resonating with people." But for Sweeney, Christy’s opinion is the only one that matters to her. "I did this for her," she says. "And she loves it, so I’m good."
