Sydney Sweeney is “proud” of working on the Christy Martin biopic Christy despite a low box office debut.
Taking to Instagram on Monday, the actress, who portrays trailblazing boxer Christy Martin in the biopic Christy, reflected on making the film that opened to $1.3 million from 2,011 sites and couldn’t crack the top 10 at the box office. Sweeney also produced the film. The David Michôd-directed film was the first theatrical release from Black Bear Pictures.
“I am so deeply proud of this movie,” Sweeney wrote. “proud of the film david made. proud of the story we told. proud to represent someone as strong and resilient as Christy Martin. this experience has been one of the greatest honors of my life.”
The actress went on to describe the film as one that “stands for survival, courage and hope. through our campaigns, we’ve helped raise awareness for so many affected by domestic violence. we all signed on to this film with the belief that christy’s story could save lives.”
She then thanked those who “saw, felt, and believed and will believe in this story for years to come. if christy gave even one woman the courage to take her first step toward safety, then we will have succeeded.”
“So yes I’m proud. why? because we don’t always just make art for numbers, we make it for impact. and christy has been the most impactful project of my life. thank you christy. i love you,” Sweeney wrote in closing.
Based on a true story, Sweeney portrays Martin, who helped legitimize women’s boxing. The biopic also stars Ben Foster as the trainer who becomes her abusive husband.
“Christy’s story is just absolutely phenomenal and even if I wasn’t going to act in it, I wanted to be a part of it in some capacity to bring it to the screen, for more people to know about her and raise awareness for her story and how incredible of an advocate and role model that she is,” Sweeney told The Hollywood Reporter at the film’s premiere. To become Martin, she put in months of training and gained 30 pounds.
When Martin saw the completed film, Sweeney said she was in tears over her reaction: “I remember she said, ‘I felt like you went back in time and you were there during these moments in my life because I don’t know how else someone would have known that I talk like that, walk like that, move like that.’ And that was just an amazing feeling to be able to hear that.”
Of Sweeney’s performance, THR critic David Rooney wrote in his review, “We watch Sydney Sweeney as real-life ‘90s boxing star Christy Martin land one power punch after another, felling a stream of opponents without ever acquiring much dimension as a character.
While Sweeney deserves credit for her physical transformation, I wish I had found Christy a little more interesting, with more spark of her own. Likewise Foster, who has played variations on this role too many times to be as chilling as the filmmakers no doubt intend.”
