There was much blood and sweat \u2013 but few tears \u2013 involved in Sydney Sweeney\u2019s transformation into Christy Martin. David Mich\u00f4d\u2019s biopic of the trailblazing fighter, who hauled women\u2019s boxing into the US mainstream in the mid-1990s, spends much of its runtime recreating Martin\u2019s real-life fights. And she doesn\u2019t always win. I left the screening wondering if I had genuinely just seen Sweeney \u2013 whose acclaimed acting career, canny commercial ventures and unwitting contributions to the online outrage cycle have combined to make her one of the world\u2019s most famous women \u2013 being mercilessly and repeatedly punched in the head. Turns out I had.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh yeah, they were all real. Every fight that you see, we\u2019re hitting each other,\u201d says the 28-year-old cheerily. \u201cI had concussions, there were some bloody noses.\u201d Were the concussions frightening? \u201cNah, I loved it! The lady who played Laila Ali\u201d \u2013 Muhammad Ali\u2019s daughter, who defeated Martin by knockout in 2003 \u2013 \u201cis an actual professional boxer. She\u2019s in the air force and fights for Team USA \u2013 she hit hard and it was very, very real. She\u2019s how I got my concussion.\u201d Sweeney felt she truly \u201cbecame a fighter. It was such an exhilarating feeling. In between takes, I\u2019d be like: \u2018I think I won that round!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I became a fighter\u2019 \u2026 in Christy. Photograph: Black Bear<\/p>\n
In the ring, Sweeney was essentially cut loose from the rest of the production (Mich\u00f4d says the fighting was \u201ca thing that I had very little to do with; it became a negotiation between Sydney and the stunt performers\u201d). But when it came to bulking up \u2013 she gained two-and-a-half stone to match Martin\u2019s fighting weight of \u201c135 to 137lbs\u201d \u2013 she had a buddy. On set, Sweeney kindly shared her calorific snack of choice, Uncrustables (this quintessentially American product, which Sweeney ate \u201cendlessly\u201d, is essentially a small frozen jam sandwich with the crusts cut off), with her co-star Ben Foster<\/a>. He also consumed \u201ca lot of burritos\u201d in order better to resemble Martin\u2019s boxing promoter husband Jim. It worked. \u201cI think it was the second week when Syd came up and just started touching my double chin,\u201d recalls Foster. \u201cShe was like: \u2018That prosthetic looks really good.\u2019 And I said: \u2018That\u2019s not a prosthetic.\u2019 I was like: \u2018Yes!\u2019\u201d Foster mimes triumph as Sweeney chuckles at the memory.<\/p>\n I\u2019m always\u00a0just me \u2013 and what other people put on me is uncontrollable<\/p>\n Foster and Sweeney are sitting side by side in a hotel room overlooking the Thames; they are in town for Christy\u2019s UK premiere at the London film festival (Sweeney has no problem watching herself on screen, Foster finds it rather painful: \u201cSometimes it cuts a little too deep \u2013 I love Syd\u2019s approach\u201d). Down the corridor are two thoughtful, softly spoken Australians: Mich\u00f4d \u2013 best known for dystopian thriller The Rover and Brad Pitt Afghanistan drama War Machine \u2013 and his co-writer (and partner of 20 years) Mirrah Foulkes.<\/p>\n Sweeney\u2019s physical transformation and sporting prowess might be the most headline-grabbing element of Christy, but at its heart the film is a subtle and serious document of an abusive relationship: Jim is a master manipulator who takes full advantage of his position as his wife\u2019s manager. For Mich\u00f4d, the biggest draw was \u201cthe opportunity the movie presented to explore how these coercive control relationships function. I was that kind of run-of-the-mill numpty who couldn\u2019t understand why she didn\u2019t leave him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The seeds of the film were sown by Mich\u00f4d\u2019s business partner, who informed him one day that Martin\u2019s life rights were available. His first question was: \u201cWho\u2019s Christy Martin?\u201d Once the director had familiarised himself with her shocking story \u2013 largely via Laura Brownson\u2019s haunting Netflix documentary Untold: Deal With the Devil \u2013 he met Martin and realised what a compelling, complex character she was. \u201cHow this pugnacious, brawling, trash-talking, supreme athlete was actually incredibly gentle and vulnerable and wears her emotional scars so openly.\u201d<\/p>\n The real Martin \u2013 who now goes by her maiden name Salters \u2013 ended up being closely involved with the film, but she was initially unconvinced. Having experienced \u201ca world of gangsters and rip-off artists [in boxing], I think she had the same suspicions of Hollywood,\u201d says Mich\u00f4d. Gradually, he and Foulkes won her trust. Then they set about looking for a star.<\/p>\n Options were limited. \u201cObviously there are the commercial realities of needing someone of serious social stature,\u201d says Mich\u00f4d (Sweeney has 25m Instagram followers and is a tabloid fixture). \u201cNeeding someone of the right age, a particular physicality, and a hunger for it.\u201d How did he know Sweeney had the right mindset? \u201cYou can just tell. I was on a Zoom with her and I could tell that she wanted this really, really bad. You can just feel that energy in a person.\u201d He had the same hunch when casting Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet in his 2019 historical epic The King<\/a>.<\/p>\n Christy Martin and Sydney Sweeney. Photograph: Joe Scarnici\/MLB Photos\/Getty Images<\/p>\n When Sweeney first received the script, she didn\u2019t know who Christy was either (\u201cI was actually kind of disappointed in myself. She\u2019s one of the most inspiring and remarkable women I\u2019ve ever met\u201d). Yet she soon realised that \u201con a lot of different levels I understood and could relate to Christy. She has her fight inside the ring and outside the ring and I fight within my own ring and outside my ring. Misunderstood. Complicated relationships. Growing up as a woman. Carving out our own paths and figuring out who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n To play Christy, Sweeney succeeds in pulling off a very delicate balancing act. Initially, this small-town girl from West Virginia is tough but entirely sympathetic: a mullet-sporting basketball enthusiast who refuses to be shamed for being gay. In the years that follow, she discovers a talent for boxing, meets and marries Jim \u2013 despite clearly finding him unappealing \u2013 and slogs her way to the top of her game. Finally, she\u2019s signed to big-name promoter Don King and becomes a bona fide celebrity, working the chatshow circuit, appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated (headline: The Lady Is a Champ) and almost single-handedly introducing female boxing to the masses. We never stop rooting for her \u2013 yet her public persona is a strange, unpleasant beast. Now back in the closet, she makes jibes about other boxers being \u201cdykes\u201d and mocks them as they stagger round the ring in defeat. Meanwhile, she appears on TV claiming to be a traditional homemaker who staunchly refuses to give any support to other women in the sport.<\/p>\n