Sydney Sweeney is not letting one rough weekend at the box office keep her down or dictate her career. Sweeney’s new movie, “Christy,” where she plays boxing legend Christy Martin, opened quietly, pulling in just over a million dollars in North America. Still, the 28-year-old actor took to Instagram to say that the film means far more to her than numbers ever could.
Sydney Sweeney defends ‘Christy’ box office numbers on Instagram
On Instagram, Sydney Sweeney was firm about “Christy” being the “most impactful project” of her career. She told her followers, “we don’t always just make art for numbers, we make it for impact,” explaining she is “deeply proud” of the story and the message behind it. The movie, directed by David Michôd, follows Martin’s rise from small-town fighter to champion while also showing her painful and dangerous relationship with her husband and trainer, Jim Martin.
Sweeney threw herself into the role, quite literally. She trained like a real boxer, gained muscle, and even took real hits during filming. Speaking with The Guardian, she admitted, “Every fight that you see, we’re hitting each other,” adding, “I had concussions, there were some bloody noses.” Her co-star Ben Foster, who plays Jim, praised her toughness and commitment, saying it was clear early on “she wanted this really, really bad.”
While critics are not on the same page about the film’s pacing, most agree that Sweeney delivered one of her strongest performances yet, with film critic Owen Gleiberman calling it a “wrenching and powerful portrait of abuse” and survival in a Variety review. For Sweeney, that’s what matters most. She wrote in the Instagram caption, “if Christy gave even one woman the courage to take her first step toward safety, then we will have succeeded.”
The weak box office might seem like a blow to her career, but Sydney Sweeney’s focus remains on what brought her to the project in the first place — a true story about fighting back. She wrote, “I’m proud to represent someone as strong and resilient as Christy Martin,” emphasizing, “we don’t always just make art for numbers.”
Originally reported by Ishika Mishra on Reality Tea
