Sydney Sweeney is opening up about her physical transformation for her new film, Christy.
The actor, 27, plays International Boxing Hall of Famer Christy Martin in the new biopic, which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this weekend.
During a recent panel at Deadline’s TIFF studio, Sweeney discussed how she physically transformed to look like a professional boxer, which included working with a nutritionist, gaining 30 pounds, and boxing for several hours a day for three months.
“I absolutely loved it,” she said. “I truly felt Christy’s power as I transformed. And I really enjoyed being able to train and work with incredible boxing coaches and weight trainers and nutritionists that helped me get to the place that I was for Christy.”
The Euphoria star also confessed how “nervous” she felt on set at first, since Martin herself was there. Sweeney acknowledged that she was “portraying” such an “inspiring, incredible” woman, and she wanted to “do justice” to Martin.
“But then, after you spend time with Christy, and you get to know her and you’re close with her, you want her around all the time,” Sweeney explained. “I kept texting her, ‘When are you going to come visit? When are you going to come back?’ I loved having her presence there. The crew loved having her presence there. We all really enjoyed her energy and her spirit.”
Last week, Sweeney shared similar sentiments about her physical transformation and training for the film.
“I felt very strong and powerful,” she told Vanity Fair. “Being able to lose myself to become a vessel for somebody else is my dream.”
She also shared that during the fight scenes in the movie, she wanted them to feel as real as possible, so she and her fellow actors actually would hit each other. Sometimes, she’d end the day with bruises and concussions.
“Every single fight you see, we are actually punching each other. We are going full force,” the Anyone But You star added. “I always believed that you would not be able to make it feel real if it’s a stunt double or if it’s faking the hits.”
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Leading up to the debut of Christy at TIFF, she also told Vanity Fair that she would only be talking about the movie, shutting down any notion about her commenting on her divisive clothing campaign with American Eagle that drew headlines over the summer.
“I am there to support my movie and the people involved in making it, and I’m not there to talk about jeans,” she said. “The movie’s about Christy, and that’s what I’ll be there to talk about.”