{"id":336435,"date":"2025-10-27T16:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T16:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/336435\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T16:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T16:49:10","slug":"sydney-sweeney-on-christy-sex-symbol-status-and-bond-girl-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/336435\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney Sweeney on Christy, Sex Symbol Status and Bond Girl Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIn March 2024, David Mich\u00f4d was considering his options for the role of trailblazing boxer Christy<\/a> Martin. It was a limited pool \u2014 the part, which involves both fighting in the ring and brutal physical abuse at the hands of Christy\u2019s Svengali husband and trainer, James Martin, would be punishing. Sydney Sweeney<\/a> wasn\u2019t high on the list. She wasn\u2019t on the list at all.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think people have preconceived ideas about Sydney because she is such a contemporary 21st-century creature of the internet,\u201d the Australian director notes. Her stardom precedes her, and Mich\u00f4d had to see Sweeney in a role in which she shed it. A friend suggested he check out Tina Satter\u2019s 2023 Berlin Film Festival sensation \u201cReality,\u201d about convicted intelligence leaker Reality Winner. Around the same time, an associate casually mentioned that Sweeney had trained and competed as an MMA fighter from the age of 12 until she booked the pilot for \u201cEuphoria<\/a>\u201d at\u00a019.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSami Drasin for Variety Magazine<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI already thought there was something interesting about Sydney, but \u2018Reality\u2019 made me know in my bones that she had some real acting chops. That movie is written from FBI transcripts,\u201d Mich\u00f4d says. \u201cThat isn\u2019t easy to act, and I thought her performance was astonishing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs he conducted a deep dive on Sweeney\u2019s grappling and kickboxing exploits, Mich\u00f4d began to feel goose bumps. He had worked with great-fit A-listers like Brad Pitt (\u201cWar Machine\u201d) and Robert Pattinson (\u201cThe Rover\u201d). \u201cBut I\u2019ve had this experience only once before, with Timmy Chalamet on \u2018The King,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve found someone who would be perfect.\u201d Mich\u00f4d sent Sweeney the script he\u2019d co-written with Mirrah Foulkes. She read it while flying to Barcelona to shoot an Armani campaign. Within 24 hours, they jumped on a Zoom.<\/p>\n

\n\tEighteen months later \u2014 and one week before her 28th birthday \u2014 Sweeney rolls into a private dining room at Toronto\u2019s Ritz-Carlton a minute early. She might have arrived even earlier, had she not just run into Martin in the hotel lobby. After our interview, she and the woman she plays will take the stage following their Toronto Film Festival screening; Sweeney will sob amid a rapturous (and rare for TIFF) standing ovation. As we speak, though, Sweeney has no idea that the outsize response she\u2019s about to receive will catapult her into the heart of Oscar speculation.<\/p>\n

\n\tWearing beige linen shorts, an oversize tan sweater and cowboy boots, Sweeney looks fresh and alert despite the 9 a.m. meet time. A pair of round brilliant-cut diamond earrings offers the only clue that she\u2019s one of the highest-paid stars of Hollywood\u2019s under-30 set, with four producing credits already under her belt. As she sinks into a chair, Sweeney considers the parallels between Martin\u2019s fight in the ring and her own battle for control in the industry.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFor Christy, the ring was her escape. It\u2019s almost like you\u2019re a caged animal inside this ring, but it\u2019s a place where she feels the most free,\u201d Sweeney notes.<\/p>\n

\n\tDoes she feel like a caged animal in Hollywood?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI am definitely a caged animal in a sense,\u201d she says. \u201cActing is my ring. It\u2019s where I feel freedom. The set is where everything else goes quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOff set, the noise is deafening for Sweeney, who became a household name over the past two years thanks to a red-hot acting career as well as an American Eagle jeans ad that launched a thousand hot takes. The ad\u2019s declaration that Sweeney has \u201cgood jeans\u201d (read: \u201cgenes\u201d) got slammed by, for instance, a Columbia University professor as \u201cimbued with eugenic messaging.\u201d President Trump praised the ad. Amid the cacophony, the company\u2019s stock price soared.<\/p>\n

\n\tOver the next seven weeks, she has two movies hitting theaters. On Nov. 7, prestige producer and first-time distributor Black Bear will launch \u201cChristy,\u201d which saw Sweeney transform beyond recognition, packing on some 30 pounds of muscle and sustaining at least one concussion. That\u2019s followed on Dec. 19 by Lionsgate\u2019s \u201cThe Housemaid,\u201d a psychological thriller in the vein of \u201cThe Hand That Rocks the Cradle\u201d that is \u201ctesting through the roof,\u201d according to the film\u2019s director, Paul Feig, and appears poised for Christmas counterprogramming breakout status. Sweeney produced both films through her Fifty-Fifty banner.<\/p>\n

\n\tAll the while, the conversation surrounding Sweeney often overshadows her credentials, like two Emmy nominations \u2014 for her respective teen-ennui turns on HBO\u2019s \u201cEuphoria\u201d and \u201cThe White Lotus\u201d \u2014 as well as a $220 million box office hit with Sony\u2019s \u201cAnyone but You,\u201d which cost a mere $25 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tHere at the festival, one sees just what kind of cage constrains Sweeney. At a Black Bear party, gotcha reporters and leering industry types jockey to meet her. She\u2019s exceedingly polite as one after another whips out their phone to take a selfie with her. All the while, she deflects every question about the jeans ad with a warm smile and a firm \u201cI\u2019m so excited for everybody to see Christy Martin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt took me years to learn what Sydney knows, which is \u2018Just don\u2019t react,\u2019\u201d says Feig, who calls the ad controversy \u201cmanufactured\u201d by \u201ca certain segment of the media [who] blew it up\u201d to serve an anti-woke agenda. (To wit: Megyn Kelly deemed the ad a success, declaring on her show, \u201cWe miss attractive people. We are sick of trying to pretend that these objectively unattractive people are the new beauty standard.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\n\tFeig continues: \u201cShe\u2019s probably one of the most confident people I\u2019ve ever met in my life \u2014 in a good way. She\u2019s very savvy. \u2018Savvy\u2019 sounds calculated. With her, she\u2019s just very smart about publicity, about social media, about what people are looking for on social media. As we\u2019re getting ready to promote, we\u2019re always like, \u2018Oh, let\u2019s do this. This is the hot trend on TikTok right now.\u2019 And she\u2019s like, \u2018No, that was last month. Here\u2019s the hot trend.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGood genes notwithstanding, Sweeney never skated through an audition back when she was a rural Idaho teen trying to break into Hollywood.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI have very strong eyebrow muscles,\u201d she says as she demonstrates an impressive brow furrow. \u201cAnd I had someone tell me to fix my face or else I\u2019m not going to make it. I should get Botox. I was 16! Or I\u2019m in a casting and I\u2019m reading my scene and the casting director is eating a bag of chips, and I\u2019m like, \u2018You\u2019re not paying attention at all.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the smart ones were noticing.<\/p>\n

\n\tMike White remembers auditioning actresses for Season 1 of \u201cWhite Lotus.\u201d He wrote the part of Olivia Mossbacher as an intellectually pretentious bully. Some hopefuls delivered the lines as zingers, with a comedic precision. Sweeney took a more diffident approach, diverging from how he pictured the part.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere was just something very unaffected by her,\u201d White says. \u201cShe was very likable. And I thought that that would be helpful because the part is so unlikable on the page. Then in editing, you realize she just pops on-screen. She\u2019s obviously lovely in person and photogenic. But my eyes kept going to her, no matter who\u2019s in the scene with her. That\u2019s natural screen magnetism that is hard to quantify. She just has that. I don\u2019t know what makes somebody a star, but there is something about her that just is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBy her own admission, Sweeney prefers flawed archetypes, which actresses rarely tackle \u2014 with notable exceptions like Cate Blanchett in \u201cT\u00e1r.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI tend to gravitate towards characters that are stereotypically unlikable, and I like to challenge an audience to have empathy for that person,\u201d she says. \u201cOlivia was that \u2014 a very hard-hitting, Gen Z, in-your-face kind of girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, likable has its advantages, as evidenced by the success of \u201cAnyone but You,\u201d which sent the internet aflutter over her chemistry with co-star Glen Powell. She and Powell seemed to lean into the mystery of their coupledom \u2014 a throwback strategy perfected during the Golden Age of cinema.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHonestly, the press did it themselves. There was no leaning in, per se,\u201d she insists. \u201cTruly the tabloids and journalists just created it and kept going. Even if we were just standing next to each other, it was \u2018They\u2019re standing two inches apart!\u2019 Glen and I genuinely care for each other and have a love and respect for one another. I love being with him. And I think people just truly saw a really beautiful pairing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs far as Sweeney is concerned, that pairing could be revived at any given moment via a sequel.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are always open to it,\u201d she says. \u201cI think that when the right concept and script come to Glen and I, we will jump in hand in hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPerhaps it\u2019s a testament to Sweeney\u2019s acting prowess that audiences can\u2019t separate her from the characters she plays, fueling the incessant conversation about her.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI play a lot of very divisive characters, and I think that a lot of people think they know me, but they don\u2019t. So when people think, \u2018Ah, she\u2019s a sex symbol,\u2019 or \u2018She\u2019s leaning into that,\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018No, I just feel good and I\u2019m doing it for myself and I feel strong.\u2019 And I hope that I can inspire other women to be confident and just flaunt what they got and feel good because you shouldn\u2019t have to apologize or hide or cover up in any room,\u201d says Sweeney, hinting at the jeans uproar.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cChristy\u201d co-star Ben Foster, who plays Christy\u2019s homicidal husband, warns against allowing the circus to define the performer.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere always seems to be a bit of hoopla around her. Positive or negative, she seems to provoke a reaction. But that is not the person I first met,\u201d Foster says. \u201cI only know Syd as a sensitive human, utterly professional, kind to the crew, prepared, looked everybody in the eye, remembered their names. To me that\u2019s an old-school value system that I don\u2019t see in a lot of people in her position.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe festival offers a brief respite from production on the third and final season of \u201cEuphoria,\u201d though Sweeney\u2019s co-stars are also making their presence known: The previous night, Sweeney hit the premiere of \u201cMile End Kicks,\u201d which stars friend and former castmate Barbie Ferreira, and the following night, she\u2019ll attend the premiere of Maude Apatow\u2019s directorial debut, \u201cPoetic License.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe heavy \u201cEuphoria\u201d representation on the TIFF red carpet testifies to just how fully the series has conquered culture. Season 3 promises to \u201cblow a lot of people away,\u201d Sweeney teases.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe bonds formed on the show run deep. One relationship was cut short prematurely when star Angus Cloud died of a drug overdose at 25. \u201cIt was definitely a very emotional experience to go back to a set and not have him be there with you. He was such a special person, and he was taken way too young,\u201d says Sweeney. She was in Idaho when she learned of Cloud\u2019s death. \u201cI\u2019m glad I was home because I was surrounded by my family. I think my first call was Maude, and then Jacob [Elordi], and we were all just crying on the phone together. It\u2019s not something you want to bring people back together over, but I\u2019m thankful to have my castmates to be able to process all of that together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn early November, she will wrap production, closing the book on the approval-starved Cassie Howard. White would love to have her reprise Olivia on Season 4 of \u201cWhite Lotus.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know if we could afford her now,\u201d he says. \u201cAs of now, it doesn\u2019t look like that\u2019s gonna happen.\u201d Sweeney, whose off-set pleasures include kitesurfing and cliff diving, says she wants to run \u201cThe Amazing Race\u201d with White: \u201cHonestly, Mike and I would be a killer team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhite, who competed in Seasons 14 and 18 of the show with his father, is thrilled by the prospect, noting Sweeney\u2019s physicality but also her ability to play the social game. \u201cI would definitely win with her. She\u2019s the master at getting what she wants. And I mean that in an absolutely good way,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n\tThen again, she could hit similar far-flung locations by playing a Bond girl, something Amazon founder Jeff Bezos reportedly wants very much to happen. She did attend his wedding to Lauren S\u00e1nchez in June, and the trio are tangentially in business together on Sweeney\u2019s new lingerie line. When I ask if there\u2019s any truth to the Bond rumors, Sweeney unravels for the first and only time.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI can\u2019t. [Seven-second pause.] I don\u2019t know. [Ten-second pause.] To be honest, I don\u2019t know all the Bond rumors, but I\u2019ve always been a huge fan of the franchise, and I\u2019m excited and curious to see what they do with it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut would she be interested? As she mulls the possibility, she regains her composure and answers assuredly.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDepends on the script,\u201d she says. \u201cI think I\u2019d have more fun as James Bond.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe internet will obsess about the possibility. Or move on to another Sweeney subplot. Lately, the haters scrutinize pictures of the actress for signs of cosmetic work.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve never gotten anything done. I\u2019m absolutely terrified of needles. No tattoos. Nothing. I\u2019m going to age gracefully,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s really funny. I\u2019ll see things online like \u2018comparison pictures.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018I\u2019m 12 in that photo. Of course I\u2019m going to look different. I have makeup on now and I\u2019m 15 years older.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Sweeney drives attention. And though the opportunists will try to attract eyeballs by mentioning her name, she\u2019s firmly in control.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBeing an actress, it\u2019s a lot harder to stand in the room and demand your worth and for people to look at you and value you,\u201d she says. \u201cI have to remind myself like, \u2018Hey, Syd, you\u2019re actually powerful. Stand up a little taller.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tCharity Spotlight: The National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the film \u201cChristy,\u201d the domestic abuse red flags emerge early before reaching a third-act crescendo. It was not just a literary device for screenwriters David Mich\u00f4d and Mirrah Foulkes. Their script follows the real-life tragic arc of boxing legend Christy Martin, who suffered horrific acts of violence at the hands of her husband and trainer, the late James Martin.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Sydney Sweeney, who gives a mesmerizing performance as the knockout queen of the \u201990s, Martin\u2019s story is common but also familiar.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a very personal issue that\u2019s important to me, and I hope that through Christy and her story, it can raise more awareness,\u201d Sweeney says without elaborating on how the legacy of domestic violence has touched her.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s personal,\u201d she repeats, her blue eyes flashing pain.<\/p>\n

\n\tSweeney has selected the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence as her charity. Founded in 1998, the Texas-based nonprofit \u201cprovides and customizes training and consultation, influences policy, promotes collaboration, and enhances diversity with the goal of ending\u201d the scourge.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile film critics typically lead with the physical transformation that Sweeney pulled off, equally impressive is her ability to delve into the psyche of a woman who was fearless in the ring but rightfully terrified of the man closest to her.<\/p>\n

\n\tBen Foster, who plays James, says the abuse scenes tested their limits as performers, but Mich\u00f4d \u201ccreated a safe space for us to explore\u201d the power dynamics of an abusive home.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAs we got deeper into the material and closer to shooting, all I could see is this sensitive human,\u201d he says of his co-star. \u201cAnd I could feel that she felt a great responsibility to represent Christy\u2019s resilience the best she could and bring her own lantern to it. And Syd\u2019s lantern is bright.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tStyling: Molly Dickson\/With Falcon; Hair: Glen Oropeza\/The Partners; Makeup: Melissa Hernandez\/A-Frame\/Armani Beauty; Manicure: Zola Ganzorigt\/The Wall Group\/OPI; Dress: Victoria Beckham; Shoes: Andrea Wazen; Jewelry: Anita Ko\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In March 2024, David Mich\u00f4d was considering his options for the role of trailblazing boxer Christy Martin. It…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":336436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[110971,166451,171,38469,166452,21218,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-336435","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-christy","9":"tag-cover-star-power-of-women","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-euphoria","12":"tag-power-of-women","13":"tag-sydney-sweeney","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115447160442861111","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}