Sydney Sweeney has numerous projects on the horizon, including the next season of Euphoria and a Barbarella revamp, but she made a rare move by taking the summer off after holding a busy schedule for years. What did she do? Well, she made sure to visit theme parks for recreation, but she was also no doubt working out like a mofo.
Pumping some iron and hitting boxing drills are key to Sweeney’s “jacked” preparation to return to the true crime realm with a biopic that chronicles the rise and turmoil experienced by prizefighter Christy Martin, the boxer who was dubbed “Female Rocky” boxer and ruled the 1990s welterweight circuit. Let’s also get in fighting shape by punching in on what we can expect.
Cast
Christy Martin in 2003 prior to fighting Laili Ali in Biloxi, Mississippi
Sweeney has been confirmed for the leading role since May, and this week, a Black Bear Pictures press release added several names to the roster, including Ben Foster, Ethan Embry, Merritt Wever, Jess Gabor, and Chad L. Coleman. The studio hasn’t clarified who will portray Christy’s abusive (and attempted murderer) husband, Jim Martin, though that role will likely go to Foster or Emery. Coleman could be onboard to portray Don King, who counted Christy as his first female signee, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet.
A particular name of interest, however: Katy O’Brian, who recently told UPROXX that nobody kicks her ass and who hulked out (if you know, you know) in A24’s queer thriller Love Lies Bleeding. Will Katy and Sydney face off in the ring? It’s hard to imagine Katy being cast within or signing up for a boxing biopic in which she doesn’t don the gloves, but stay tuned there.
Plot
Christy Martin’s life story is a harrowing one, and the film’s working title, Apopka, refers to the Florida city where she endured a toxic marriage with her also-manager, Jim Martin, who shot her in 2010 when she tried to leave their marriage. This came after years of escalating emotional and physical abuse, and Jim is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence. ESPN previously published an incredibly graphic account of Christy’s injuries and recovery from her injuries, along with her foresight to leave a few drops of blood on “an obscured section of the wall” as proof that the abuse had been ongoing if she ever needed that documentation (and she did).
The film is currently filming with helmer David Michôd (War Machine, Hesher) having decided that Sweeney was the woman for the gig after watching her as a defendant in HBO’s Reality. He also co-wrote the script (with Mirrah Foulkes) and told Deadline about the framing of this biopic:
“The film is about Christy as a young gay woman in small-town West Virginia in the 1990s. She came from a relatively conservative family and wasn’t allowed to be who she was so she used boxing as a vehicle to express herself and her rage. She had to make some dangerous and fundamental compromises in her life, the most important of which was marrying an incredibly dangerous man.”
As for Sweeney’s approach, she told Deadline that this is right up her alley: “I grappled and did kickboxing from 12-19 years old. I’ve been itching to get back into the ring, train, and transform my body.” She did add, however, that this will be both a “physically and emotionally demanding” job because “Christy’s story isn’t a light one.”
Release Date
Filming began in late September and will be finished by the end of the year, so A24 will likely debut this on the festival circuit in 2025.
Trailer
No trailer, but here’s Sweeney talking about the importance of working out because it’s “really fun to be able to kick a guy’s ass.”