Christy Martin’s life story feels made for the movies. From humble beginnings, she became one of the most successful female boxers of the 1990s. She’s also a survivor, overcoming adversity and violence to become the person she was always meant to be.
In the film Christy, which opened in theaters on November 7, Sydney Sweeney plays Martin, a West Virginia native who earned the nickname “the Coal Miner’s Daughter” when she became a professional boxer at 21. During her meteoric rise in the sport, she was also covering up her true identity as a queer woman, marrying her manager, Jim Martin, who emotionally and physically abused her while siphoning off her prize money. This abuse turned life-threatening in 2010 when he stabbed and shot her, leaving her for dead. She survived the attack and eventually found a happy relationship with Lisa Holewyne, her former boxing rival.
“She was the ultimate underdog—she was fighting her biggest battle outside of the ring,” says Kerry Kohansky-Roberts, one of the film’s producers. “I felt like, how has this story not been told? Because it’s got all the elements that you look for in a film: a heroic character, a woman taking control of her life for the first time.”
Martin was at first apprehensive about having her story depicted in a movie, says Kohansky-Roberts. “People are distrusting when Hollywood calls,” she says. “So it was a matter of just listening.” Writer-director David Michôd and writer Mirrah Foulkes spent a great deal of time with Martin in order to hear her story and ensure they got it right. Martin took Foulkes around Florida, including the home where she lived with Jim and where the violent attack occurred. “I guess you always second-guess any big decision in life: ‘Is this really what I should have done?’ But I had many conversations with David and Mirrah and they gained my trust,” Martin tells Vanity Fair.
Martin was surprised at first to hear that Sweeney, best known at the time for her roles on Euphoria and the rom-com Anyone But You, would play her in the film. “She’s shiny and she’s sexy Sydney, and beautiful and all those things,” says Martin. “How is she going to get down and dirty and be Christy Martin?” But Sweeney put in the work, spending months learning to box and gaining more than 30 pounds for the role. “I felt very strong and powerful,” Sweeney previously told Vanity Fair. “I loved it. Being able to lose myself to become a vessel for somebody else is my dream.”
