Christy Martin defends Sydney Sweeney’s performance in ‘Christy’: “She is my friend and ally”
Christy Martin has leapt to the defence of Sydney Sweeney, who portrays her in the new biopic, Christy.
The movie, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, tells the life story of Martin, who was a trailblazing female boxer and was also locked into an abusive marriage with her trainer, Jim Martin.
From a box office perspective, Christy has endured a rough start. Despite being screened in over 2,000 theatres, it only took home $1.3 million during its opening weekend in North America.
Additionally, Sweeney has faced criticism, including from Orange Is The New Black star Ruby Rose, who took to Threads to claim she was attached to an earlier version of the film and said of Sweeney’s performance, “None of ‘the people’ want to see someone who hates them, parading around pretending to be us. You’re a cretin and you ruined the film. Period. Christy deserved better.”
Rose, who is part of the LGBTQ community like Martin, also criticised the decision to cast a straight actor as the boxer.
Now, Martin has praised Sweeney’s depiction of her in Christy, as well as praising her as a person. On Instagram, the retired boxer shared, “I’ve always been a fighter. My life reflected that in every way and now I fight for others. The past few days I have seen some people attack my friend Sydney Sweeney.”
Martin’s defence continued, “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!”
Following the weak start at the box office, Sweeney shared on Instagram that she was “so deeply proud of this movie”, before explaining, “This film 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 also said the “experience has been one of the greatest honours of my life.” The Euphoria actor then shrugged off ticket sales, stating, “We don’t always just make art for numbers, we make it for impact”.
Christy is set for release in UK and Irish cinemas on November 28th.
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