Ben Foster, Katy O’Brian, and Merritt Wever Join Sydney Sweeney led Boxing Biopic!!

The upcoming biopic of Christy Martin, which will star Sydney Sweeney as the pioneering boxer, has just added a number of supporting actors to its corner. Ben Foster, Katy O’Brian, and Merritt Wever will join the film in unspecified roles. Deadline reports that the as-yet-untitled film is now shooting in North Carolina.

Sweeney will star as Martin, who became the best-known female boxer in the world in the 1990s after a series of well-publicized bouts and a Sports Illustrated cover story. However, she made headlines of a different kind in 2010 when she was brutally attacked and left for dead by her then-husband. Her story was chronicled in the Netflix sports documentary series Untoldin 2021. In addition to Foster, O’Brian, and Wever, the film’s cast will also include Ethan Embry (That Thing You Do), Jess Gabor (Shameless), and Chad L. Coleman (The Wire). The film will be directed by David Michôd (Animal Kingdom), who also co-wrote the script with Mirrah Foulkes (Judy and Punch).

Who Are the New Stars of the Christy Martin Biopic?

In addition to the ubiquitous Sweeney, who will star in Ron Howard‘s Edenlater this year, the film boasts an impressive cast. Foster has been acclaimed for his roles as men on the edge in films like 3:10 to Yuma, Hell or High Water, and Leave No Trace; he will next star alongside Ed Harris and Jessica Lange in a new adaptation of Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Actor and bodybuilder O’Brian had roles in The Mandalorian and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania before breaking out this year in Love Lies Bleeding and Twisters; she is next slated to appear in the upcoming eighth Mission: Impossible film. Wever broke out as the upbeat Zoey on Showtime‘s Nurse Jackie, winning an Emmy for her role; she has a plethora of new projects in the works, including roles in the upcoming seasons of Severance and The Gilded Age.

It will be produced by Kerry Kohansky-Roberts for Anonymous Content, Michôd for Yoki, Inc., Justin Lothrop and Brent Stiefel for Votiv, Sweeney for Fifty-Fifty Films, and Teddy Schwarzman for Black Bear. Executive producers include Michael Heimler and John Friedberg for Black Bear, Foulkes, Brad Zimmerman for Yoki, Inc., David Levine, Ryan Schwartz, and Nick Shumaker for Anonymous Content, and Harrison Huffman.