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| Credit: AARP Movies For Grownups |
Press Release: November 5 , 2025 By AARP Movies For Grownups - Actress Sydney Sweeney tells AARP’s Movies for Grownups that transforming herself, in body and mind, into former boxing champion Christy Martin in the new biopic Christy (in theaters November 7) was a no-brainer choice.
“I wanted to take Christy on because she challenged me in new ways that I’ve never been challenged before,” Sweeney tells AARP’s Movies for Grownups. “Her story inspired me. I couldn’t believe that I didn’t know who this amazing woman was, and I wanted her to be seen by the world.”
Sweeney adds: “I think that her story will save lives, and I needed to help facilitate that.”
Martin also reveals to AARP’s Movies for Grownups, “I did not talk to Ben Foster,” who co-stars as her emotionally and physically abusive husband James Martin, during the filming of Christy. “I could not be in the room when he was doing the lines. I just couldn't,” she adds. “And I stayed away from him the entire film. And I think he probably was glad, but it affected me…”
In Christy, we see Martin’s brutal fights in the ring. Her struggle to come out as gay in an ultra-conservative family. The emotional rollercoaster with her misguided mother. And the brutal domestic battles with her former husband and manager. At one point James Martin repeatedly stabbed and shot Christy in the chest. (He was convicted of attempted second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison, where he died behind bars last year.)
For her part, Christy Martin came away thoroughly impressed by Sweeney, whose involvement helped get the film made in the first place.
“[It is] so much unlike what people expect from her, and she wanted to show that she has a broad range,” notes Martin, who spent a lot of time by Sweeney’s side on set. “I think it's a challenge for her, and I think she cares about helping people, and this movie is going to help people in many different ways, in many different groups of people.”
Martin adds: “I wanted it to be an underdog story, reaching domestic violence survivors, reaching parents that their children are coming to them saying they're gay or for some reason they're not exactly fitting into what the family thinks they should be.”
Martin became the face of female boxing in the ‘90s and brought the women-led sport to mainstream attention. She was promoted by the king of boxing promoters, Don King (Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman), appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, won a welterweight title, and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
AARP's Movies for Grownups is a program dedicated to championing films and television shows that resonate with audiences age 50 and over, while also working to combat ageism in the entertainment industry. For more than two decades, AARP’s Movies for Grownups has recognized the talent and experience of older actors and filmmakers. AARP continues to champion movies for grownups, by grownups, by advocating for the 50-plus audience, and encouraging films and TV shows that resonate with older viewers.
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