Katy O’Brian Flexes Her Acting Muscle In New Biopic ‘Christy’

Featured Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

When Katy O’Brian got the call offering her the role of Lisa Holewyne in the biographical sports drama, Christy, she was scared—terrified, actually—to take on the massively emotional and vulnerable story. On top of her anxieties, she was in the middle of filming a project in the UK, about to begin filming for her new movie, The Running Man, and was desperately missing home. Even her body was overworked with two minor tears in her shoulder, a back injury, and a warning from her doctor that taking the role would be “irresponsible.” 

But nothing was going to stop O’Brian from taking this part. 

“It never even occurred to me that I would be asked to play someone who’s a real person,” she told GO. “There’s something so intimidating about that because you want to do them justice, and especially in a story like this, it’s such a vulnerable and intense story.” 

And it’s one that not many are familiar with. Despite the gravity of Christy Salters Martin’s story, her struggles and successes are often glossed over. O’Brian admitted she was unfamiliar with Christy and her wife, Lisa, until the film.

“Christy’s story and her athletic feats are incredible. It just kind of goes to show you how we treat women in history and in society, because it’s a story I think everyone should know, but it’s not one that I’d heard of.”

The film follows Christy Salters Martin (Sydney Sweeney), a professional boxing legend, from humble beginnings in West Virginia to becoming a massive “first” in women’s boxing—the first woman to sign with promoter Don King, the first female boxer to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and the first woman to box during a major pay-per-view event. She has been inducted into six Halls of Fame, including the International Boxing Hall of Fame, alongside industry legends Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and Floyd Mayweather. 

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Christy’s story is striped with success, but it also has a strong undercurrent of domestic violence, perpetrated by her then-trainer/ husband Jim Martin (Ben Foster), and homophobia, both within the boxing world and from her own family. While everyone around her—coaches, promoters, and even her own mother—forces her into a dangerous position, the real Christy, a strong, queer woman, struggles to keep her head above water. 

Enter Lisa Holewyne, a Hawaii-born professional boxer, with quite the impressive record of her own. When Christy audiences first meet Lisa, she is facing off against Christy in the ring. When O’Brian as Lisa last graces the screen, she has become a friend to her former rival, visiting her in the hospital after Christy’s near-death experience at the hands of her husband. Although not shown in the film, the two later married in 2017. 

“Christy’s story is very real. There’s still a lot of homophobia and domestic violence, not only in our country but in the world,” O’Brian said. “I don’t know that she would have been able to be as successful as she was in the ‘90s if she was out. I actually think that would be impossible. That’s tragic, and we see the toll that takes on somebody. It’s important, also, to not skirt over the fact that there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

To properly embody these women, O’Brian and Sweeney worked closely with the real Lisa and Christy on set. With an independent film like Christy, actors faced a tighter time constraint. Luckily, Lisa and Christy gave their whole-hearted blessing to the actresses almost instantly.

“[Lisa] said she would feel quite well-represented by me, which really locked me in…I would only really want to portray someone with their consent. I told her ahead of time, ‘I don’t have time to learn your accent’… She was immediately like, ‘I don’t care. This isn’t about me. It’s about Christy, so you do you.’ She’s just so laid back and so cool. It became a really unique experience that I was not expecting.” 

Once on set, O’Brian said they had little time for training, which her injuries thanked her for. During one fight scene, there was no time to choreograph, so O’Brian and Sweeney jumped in the ring and freestyled. While O’Brian’s background in Muay Thai and bodybuilding made for a slightly smoother transition into boxing, Sweeney worked alongside a dietician and trainer to nail down Christy’s physique. O’Brian revealed it was a lot of bulking up with “high calories, constant eating…and having to exercise on top of that.” 

“It gives me acid reflux just to think about,” she said. 

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Working so closely alongside the real-life couple allowed Christy to capture the nuances of their relationship and offer a peek into their otherwise incredibly private lives. For O’Brian, learning about Lisa’s view of Christy and Jim’s relationship was invaluable to her portrayal. 

“In talking to Jim, [Lisa says] there were just so many red flags. And she knew something was wrong in her gut, but Christy’s not gonna talk about it,” O’Brian said. “It is in the script, but she was very much aware that something was incredibly off. It was even weirder than was portrayed.” 

The uneasy gut feeling that O’Brian describes radiates onscreen. From the audience’s first introduction to Jim, there is a sliminess to his character. The comb-over, the deep, beady eyes, the aggression. He controls Christy’s career, skimming money from her fighting fees and situating himself as the ‘key’ to her success. He forces her to break contact with her ex-girlfriend and manipulates her family’s opinion of her, leaving her trapped with no one else to turn to. 

Yet, the first time viewers see Jim truly lay his hands on Christy may still come as a shock. Some audience members may wonder, “Why didn’t she fight back?” When Jim threatens to kill Christy, they may think, “Why didn’t she leave?” And, when the abuse culminates in Jim’s attempt to murder Christy, a few may say, “Why didn’t she ask for help?” 

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O’Brian said this train of thought, which can be common for many people unfamiliar with the cycle of abuse, was why director David Michôd wanted to tell this story. 

“A lot of people have this perception that people who are victims of domestic violence are weak or are powerless, and that’s just not often the case,” she said. “It’s such a systematic, and often slow-moving cycle, that psychologically it’s very difficult to understand.”

With her years-long background in law enforcement, O’Brian has first-hand knowledge of how difficult red tape can make reporting dangerous incidents, like stalking or abuse. The National Domestic Violence Hotline reports that intimate partner violence affects more than 12 million people in the U.S. every year. Almost half of women in the U.S. have experienced psychological aggression by an intimate partner, and more than half of the women killed by gun violence in the U.S. are killed by family members or intimate partners. 

As O’Brian points out, coercive control—an abusive behavior that aims to trap someone by isolating, harassing, monitoring, financially manipulating, etc—is not federally illegal in the U.S.

“I’m hoping [the film] opens our eyes to a little more of how these systems of oppression work, and maybe helps us start towards some litigation changes,” she said. “I don’t know if a movie can do that, but I’m hoping people will start to…understand it a little better and maybe reframe their thinking.” 

O’Brian continued, “After the movie, I had someone come up to me and ask, ‘Why didn’t she just fight back?’ I’m like, ‘You really missed the whole point of the movie.’ Of course, it was a guy [who asked]…And that’s what a lot of women have to experience, unfortunately. After they’ve had the worst event of their lives, hearing, ‘Why didn’t you just fight back?’”

She hopes this film inspires others to see the patterns of abuse and step in to help.

“I’m hoping that people who are seeing signs of this in the relationship might see that as a sign to get out…Or if they can see it in their friends, they might be able to help educate them a little bit.”

Because these themes were handled with precise care, O’Brian emphasized that Christy is not a tragic film. It’s a film about resilience. 

“Christy’s story is so very important, not only because she’s a survivor and because she’s so strong, but because she’s made it her life goal thereafter to advocate for women in these domestic violence situations.”  

Following her retirement in 2012, Christy founded Christy’s Champs, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting survivors of domestic violence and family abuse. It is this continued strength that is the focus of the film, not the fact that she’s a lesbian, and not her relationship with Lisa. For O’Brian, this was an essential aspect of the film, and one that has deeply inspired her. 

“I don’t think that every story has to be about someone’s sexuality. I almost think that no stories really have to be about someone’s sexuality. That’s a goal for the future,” she said. “One thing I loved about Love Lies Bleeding was that our queerness was not even part of the conflict…We were just two people that were morally questionable, who got together. And it was wonderful.” 

She hopes to continue to embody this in future roles, like her recent film, Queens of the Dead, which hit theaters on October 24 after premiering at NewFest37 alongside Christy. 

“[Queens of the Dead] is just queer people being queer, and a zombie apocalypse just happens to happen. Those are the stories I really want to tell because this is just how we live our lives. I mean, without the zombies and murder,” O’Brian laughed. “We just exist, and it’s not always conflict. That’s what I always wanted to see growing up. I didn’t always want it to be a coming out story or a longing-glances-for-four-hours story.” 

For O’Brian’s fans who are looking for some explicitly queer characters, she said they won’t be disappointed. In fact, her roles are ramping up. In the October film Maintenance Required, available to stream now on Prime, O’Brian said her “fluid” character, Cam, is the “gayest I’ve ever looked.” In her upcoming film The Running Man, in theaters November 7, her character is a “very, very, queer…chaos person.” 

“You guys will get your balance, don’t worry,” she smiled. 

Christy is out in theaters November 7. 

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline (thehotline.org) for resources. Call 1-800-799-SAFE or text START to 88788 for 24/7 confidential help.