TORONTO - A bunch of chicken and jelly were on Sydney Sweeney's training table prepping to play boxer Christy Martin. After the reception the sports biopic "Christy" received when it premiered Sept. 5 at Toronto Film Festival, they should be on the afterparty menu, too.
Sweeney earned a standing ovation – as did the real Martin, who was accompanied by her pooch, Champ – for a transformational role that could net her a best actress Oscar nomination.
"Christy" follows the title character's life from West Virginia teenager winning Toughman Contests to championship boxer in the 1990s, ultimately landing on the cover of Sports Illustrated and signing with infamous promoter Don King (Chad Coleman). But outside of the ring, Christy hides and represses her lesbianism and winds up marrying her trainer Jim Martin (Ben Foster), who manipulates and physically abuses her.
"If you leave me, I will kill you," Jim says multiple times – and in the film's most harrowing, bloody sequence, he almost lives up to that promise.
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