This fall, two combat sports biopics have their stars angling towards Academy Awards gold. One is the MMA drama The Smashing Machine, starring Dwayne Johnson as Mark Kerr. The other is Christy, with Sydney Sweeney earning buzz for her performance as trailblazing boxer, Christy Martin.
Following Christy‘s TIFF world premiere just days ago, Black Bear has released a new trailer for the film, showing Sweeney’s physical transformation as Martin. Directed by David Michôd, the film follows Martin’s career as one of the first major names in female boxing. But success couldn’t bring happiness, as she faced significant problems from her family, her abusive trainer and husband Jim, and a sport that didn’t believe women should be fighting at all.
Joining Sweeney in the cast are Ben Foster, Merritt Wever, Kay O’Brian, Ethan Embry, and Chad Coleman.
While the film receives most of its attention for Sweeney’s excellent performance, it shouldn’t be overlooked that it takes a familiar subgenre, that of the boxing drama, and showcases the unique problems faced by female fighters. I was quite a big fan of the film and you can find my review here.
Black Bear opens Christy in theaters on November 7th.
