Sydney Sweeney is making her first big public appearance at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), weeks after her recent American Eagle ad campaign backlash. Sweeney spoke to Variety about the transformation and work she put into her new film Christy. The film is based on Christy Martin, the legendary ’90s boxer nicknamed “the Coal Miner’s Daughter.” It premiered at TIFF and drew loud applause from the audience and critics.
Sydney Sweeney on her transformation for Christy
To play Christy, Sweeney, best known for her softer, romantic roles in Euphoria, went through a complete transformation. She gained over 30 pounds, trained for months, and even suffered concussions while filming. Still, she refused stunt doubles and insisted on taking the punches herself. “I was getting pummeled,” she said, adding that the crew always kept an ice bucket ready. “I was getting knocked up. I had some gnarly bruises after that.” In one scene, she recreated Christy Martin’s iconic fight with Laila Ali, which left her with a “crazy black eye.” She said she wanted the fights to feel real, especially because Martin’s story is such a powerful one. The Anyone But You star pushed herself through 12-hour shoot days, then trained another two hours at night, filming the boxing sequences back-to-back in what she called a “gruelling time.”
A big part of the transformation was bulking up. To put size on her lean frame, Sweeney worked with a nutritionist, a weight trainer, and a boxing coach. She loaded up on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, milkshakes, protein shakes, and high-calorie meals. “We upped my calorie intake and I started taking a lot of protein shakes and supplements and eating everything. I ate a lot of Smuckers, a lot of PB&J sandwiches, milkshakes, just constantly eating because we were so active. I was burning it all off at the same time, so keeping it up was a real challenge,” she said.
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The film, directed by David Michôd. The upcoming biopic is more than just a sports drama, as it shows Christy’s rise in boxing but also the darker side of her life. She was married to her abusive trainer, Jim Martin (played by Ben Foster). Christy’s relationship with him was both controlling and violent, which almost cost her life. Michôd and his partner, writer-director Mirrah Foulkes, co-wrote the script after watching the 2021 Netflix documentary Untold: Deal with the Devil. Speaking of why they thought Sweeney would be perfect for the role, David told Variety, “I knew that she was already a fighter.” He added, “I saw her in that HBO film ‘Reality’ from a few years ago. So I knew she had acting chops, and I was excited by the prospect of taking those acting chops to a bigger audience.”
Sweeney, meanwhile, also had Christy’s support, who visited sets often, cheering her during fight scenes, and encouraged the actor like she was really ringside at a boxing match. For critics, this could be Sweeney’s best performance yet, with some even predicting Oscar buzz. The actor has already received two Emmy nominations for Euphoria and The White Lotus.
