Step into the ring with the electrifying new biopic Christy, where actress Sydney Sweeney transforms into legendary fighter Christy Martin. Directed by David Michôd, the movie charts Martin’s rise from a coal-town kid in West Virginia to the first female boxer to land on the cover of Sports Illustrated—all while shattering expectations in a male-dominated ring. The physical transformation Sweeney undergoes is raw and compelling, mirroring Martin’s own gritty ascent to prominence. But it’s not just about the punches and the titles—Christy’s real fight starts when she comes face to face with her toughest opponent yet: the man she married. As her husband-turned-manager’s behaviour spirals into abuse, the film pulls no punches in depicting the dark underbelly of fame and control. It’s a story of strength, resilience and survival—one that will leave you cheering for more than just knockouts.
Overview
In this biographical drama, actress Sydney Sweeney portrays legendary boxer Christy Martin, tracing her transformation from a young woman in West Virginia into one of the most prominent female fighters of the 1990s. Directed by David Michôd, the film follows Martin’s early discovery of boxing talent, her rapid rise through the ranks—including becoming the first female boxer featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated—and the challenges she confronted inside the sport. Beyond the ring, the story delves into Martin’s personal struggles: a marriage to her coach-turned-husband, escalating control and abuse, her courage in rebuilding her life after a near-fatal attack, and her emergence as an advocate for others who suffer in silence. The film brings to light themes of identity, resilience and survival, offering more than just a sports narrative.
Cast and Crew
Director: David Michôd
Christy (2025) is directed by David Michôd, an acclaimed filmmaker known for his gripping and emotionally intense storytelling. His direction aims to balance the ferocity of professional boxing with the deeply personal trauma faced by Christy Martin behind closed doors. Michôd is also involved in co-writing the screenplay, ensuring the film remains tightly connected to true events and grounded in realism. His filmmaking style lends the narrative a raw, unfiltered tone that highlights strength, survival and vulnerability.
Lead Actor: Ben Foster
The film stars Ben Foster as Jim Martin, the husband and manager of Christy Martin. Foster takes on a challenging role portraying a man whose early support slowly transforms into toxic control and abuse, becoming a critical emotional centerpiece in the movie. Known for his intense acting style, Foster brings complexity to the character, avoiding one-dimensional villainy for a layered, unsettling performance. His presence plays a major role in shaping both the tension and emotional weight of Christy’s journey.
Lead Actress: Sydney Sweeney
At the heart of the film is Sydney Sweeney, who plays legendary boxer Christy Martin. Sweeney undergoes a dramatic physical and emotional transformation to embody Martin’s grit, discipline and resilience in the sport. Her performance explores not only the thrill of championship matches but also the inner toll of surviving abuse while maintaining a public image of strength. Through this role, Sweeney highlights the personal sacrifices behind success and the powerful will required to reclaim life after violence.
Supporting Cast
The supporting cast further deepens the narrative, enriching both the personal and professional dimensions of Christy Martin’s life. Merritt Wever portrays Joyce Salters, Christy’s mother, while Ethan Embry plays her father, grounding the film in family-driven emotions. Katy O’Brian appears as champion boxer Lisa Holewyne, adding authenticity to the world of competitive female boxing. Jess Gabor plays Rosie, a character based on Christy’s high-school girlfriend, helping to explore themes of identity and acceptance, intensifying Christy’s emotional struggle.
Music Composer: Antony Partos
The film’s score is composed by Antony Partos, whose emotive compositions elevate both the cinematic boxing sequences and the intimate character-driven moments. Partos’ music helps tie the film’s duality together — the adrenaline rush of victory and the quiet suffering behind the scenes. His soundscape enhances the tension, heartbreak and empowerment that unfold across the film, making the emotional arc even more immersive for the audience.
Production Company
Christy is brought to the screen through a collaboration of multiple studios, including Black Bear Pictures, Anonymous Content, Votiv Films, Yoki, Inc., and Fifty-Fifty Films. This joint production effort reflects the scale of the project and the confidence in Christy Martin’s story as an impactful cinematic narrative. The film benefits from the combined experience of these companies, known for producing high-intensity and award-caliber dramas, ensuring strong production quality from development to final execution.
Run Time: 2 Hours 15 Minutes
The total running time of Christy (2025) is 2 hours and 15 minutes. This runtime allows the movie to explore Christy Martin’s boxing achievements alongside the complexities of her personal life without rushing either arc. It gives space for character development, emotional weight, and detailed representation of her rise, fall and recovery. The pacing is designed to make viewers feel fully immersed in the highs and lows of her journey.
Budget and Box Office
The production budget for the film is reported at $15 million. As for box office performance, Christy earned approximately $1.3 million in its opening weekend in the U.S. and has a total domestic gross of around $1.9 million, with overseas earnings nearly non-existent, putting its worldwide gross under $2 million.
Story
In the opening act, the film introduces Christy Martin in her humble roots: growing up in a coal-town in West Virginia as the daughter of a miner, she’s athletic, tenacious and looking for a way out of small-town constraints. Her discovery of boxing — initially almost on a whim, in local competitions while she’s still in college — offers an escape and an arena where her physical and emotional energies can transform into something larger. As she begins to win and gain attention, the film establishes both her professional rise and the personal cost of ambition: a secret relationship, disapproval from family and the underlying struggle over identity begin to surface subtly.
The second part of the story charts her ascent in the world of professional boxing. Under the guidance (and eventual management) of Jim Martin, later her husband, Christy pushes boundaries — she becomes one of the first female boxers to command mainstream notice, public pay-per-view fights, and landmark successes. The film shows her victories in the ring, the branding as a pioneer in women’s boxing, and how the sport elevates her from her origins. But alongside this triumph, the marriage/work relationship begins to strain: Jim’s controlling tendencies appear, the power dynamic shifts, and what started as mentorship turns darker. The narrative uses her boxing career as both the literal battle and the metaphor for what she faces outside the ring: who she is, who she wants to be, and what she is willing to fight for.
In the third arc, the story plunges into the personal crisis: Christy’s rise is paralleled by increasing domestic instability. The film doesn’t shy away from showing the abuse she endures, both emotional and physical, inflicted by the very person she trusted, coached by and married. The attack in 2010 — a stabbing and shooting by Jim after Christy begins to seek her own life and reconnect with her earlier love — becomes a pivotal moment. This moment spurs the film into its reckoning phase: surviving the violence, reassessing her identity and career, grappling with public fame and private trauma, and redefining what winning means for her. The ring no longer suffices as the measure of triumph.
Finally, the story moves into recovery and transformation. After the assault, Christy must rebuild — not just her body and career, but her autonomy, her personal relationships and her public voice. The film shows how she steps out of the shadows of her husband/manager and into her own power: aligning with her true self, choosing who she loves, and using her platform to advocate for others. The final scenes suggest not just one woman’s boxing legacy, but the enduring human legacy of survival, dignity and self-determination: a champion inside the ropes whose greatest victory is reclaiming her life.
Review
Christy (2025) delivers a raw and emotionally charged portrait of a woman whose life existed in two very different arenas — the boxing ring and her marriage — and the film never lets the viewer forget how intertwined those spaces were. The intensity of the storytelling is immediate; every win inside the ring is shadowed by a quieter struggle at home, giving the narrative a rhythm of triumph and dread. The film’s willingness to explore both sides of Christy Martin’s life with equal weight adds a depth that many sports biopics avoid.
Sydney Sweeney’s performance is the heartbeat of the movie. Her physical transformation is notable, but it’s the emotional range — shifting from fierce confidence to repressed fear — that drives the story. She plays Christy not only as a fighter but as a survivor navigating public expectations and private trauma. The way Sweeney brings vulnerability to a persona built around toughness makes the character feel layered and human rather than symbolic.
Ben Foster, as Jim Martin, delivers a performance that is unsettling in all the ways it should be. His portrayal avoids caricature and instead leans into the subtle evolution of control — from mentor to manager to abuser. The dynamic between Sweeney and Foster is electrifying and disturbing, and the film uses their chemistry to underline how manipulation can disguise itself as support. Their scenes together are among the most gripping in the movie.
Visually, the film balances grit and polish. The boxing sequences are shot with a mix of adrenaline and technical authenticity, immersing the viewer in blows, sweat and exhaustion without resorting to over-stylization. Outside the ring, the cinematography turns intimate and personal, using confined domestic spaces and quiet silences to convey isolation. The score amplifies this duality, shifting from high-energy momentum during matches to subdued emotional tones during difficult personal moments. Where the film makes its strongest impact is in its emotional storytelling rather than its sports narrative. The screenplay doesn’t frame Christy’s journey as a simple rise-fall-rise arc; instead, it depicts success and pain occurring simultaneously, sometimes indistinguishable from each other. Even during moments of public victory, the audience is reminded of everything she is quietly battling. The film succeeds not because it celebrates a champion, but because it exposes the hidden cost of becoming one.
Behind the Gloves: The Untold War Within
While Christy (2025) is framed around the rise of a groundbreaking boxer, the film’s most gripping punch lands outside the ring. It exposes how fame, discipline and public praise can hide a reality far more bruising than any physical match. Christy’s journey shows that strength isn’t just measured through knockouts or championship belts — it also lies in the courage to confront the people who hurt you the most, even when they once helped build your success.
The movie also sheds light on the pressure to perform perfection while living through emotional chaos. Christy becomes a symbol of how society applauds resilience while rarely asking what that resilience costs. Her battles redefine the meaning of victory: not defeating an opponent for a title, but regaining ownership of her own life after years of silence. The narrative transforms boxing into metaphor — every fight in the ring mirrors a deeper fight for identity, voice and survival.
Conclusion
In the end, Christy (2025) stands as more than a sports biopic — it becomes a powerful portrait of a woman redefining what strength truly means. The film shows that victory is not always found under bright lights or in championship belts, but in the quiet, difficult decisions that reclaim a life from fear and control. Christy’s story reminds audiences that even legends can be broken privately while appearing unshakable publicly.
As the credits roll, the impact of Christy Martin’s journey lingers long after the final frame. The film encourages viewers to look beyond the heroism we celebrate on screen and recognize the unseen wars people fight every day. Christy leaves behind not only the legacy of a boxing icon, but also a message of resilience — a reminder that survival itself can be the greatest triumph of all.