Sydney Sweeney Stuns in Emotional ‘Christy’ Role.
Sydney Sweeney Weeps With Joy During Christy Ovation: ‘I Can’t Believe This’
Former pro boxer Christy Martin stood by Sweeney’s side on-stage at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 5 when the credits rolled on Christy, Martin’s biopic, and the applause kept coming.
Sweeney couldn’t hold back tears after the audience at the Princess of Wales Theater rose for a prolonged standing ovation. The 27-year-old, best known for her roles in Euphoria and Anyone But You, embraced Christy Martin onstage a moment later, as directors David Michôd and Katherine Fugate joined the two actresses and Martin’s wife, Lisa Holewyne, for a victory lap. Martin, 57, carried her therapy dog, Champ, who never left the star’s lap throughout the screening.
Sweeney’s “big, Red-Lights-On-Blue-Reel-Can’t-Look Away” transformation into a former championship boxer led the PR campaign. In July, first-look socials from Black Bear Pictures teased the lead in a spangled, sweat-slicked title match stance. Jaws at the festival stayed unhinged once the film unspooled in full. Christy hits theaters on November 7.
In June, Sweeney spoke to W Magazine about what it took to portray Samanta Martin in the upcoming film. The actress packed on 30-plus pounds and spent three solid months training, she explained.
“I changed my food completely. I weighed in with weights in the morning for an hour, had kickboxing at noon for about two hours, then lifted again in the evening for another hour,” Sweeney shared. “My body felt totally new. But honestly, I felt so strong—like, stronger than I’d ever been.”
Just weeks after wrapping Christy, Sweeney hustled back to the Euphoria lot to shoot Season 3. Her character Cassie looks a lot more like the Sweeney fans see on the red carpet or in social videos.
While Sweeney was filming Euphoria, the film’s director video-called her on set. He joked that flipping from Martin’s body back to Cassie’s was basically the same workout on a different scale.
“I was blown away when I saw her look different for the first time. Usually I pictured her as this feisty kid with wild late-’80s hair, always ready to throw a punch,” Michôd shared with W Magazine. “Sydney loved the ring more than anything else, whether she was throwing a punch or taking one. So I didn’t recognize the super-glam look she walked in with—it was a total surprise.”
Christy opens in theaters on November 7.
