Christy Movie Ending Explained By Stars Sydney Sweeney & Katy O'Brian

Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Christy.Christy stars Sydney Sweeney and Katy O’Brian explain the movie’s haunting ending. Sweeney plays the real-life professional boxer Christy Martin in the sports drama film, while O’Brian plays Lisa Holewyne, a boxing adversary of Christy’s who later becomes her wife.

In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley, Sweeney was asked about the moment where Christy gets into a car and apologizes for getting blood on the seat, and how this may have changed the actor’s perception of her character.

Sweeney explains that this moment demonstrates Christy’s selflessness, that she is thinking about other people, and still sees herself as a burden at times. She also reveals that this is “one of my favorite shots”, even though the scene was filmed at the end of the day in only five or seven minutes. Check out her comments below:

It was one of those moments where, even though everything’s happening to her, she’s still thinking of others. She’s still aware of maybe the burden that she’s bringing on somebody else instead of just truly thinking of herself. But that scene was really interesting. We were at the very end of our day, we had no time. We shot that scene in five or seven minutes. It was one take; we don’t have any more time. And it’s one of my favorite shots as well.

O’Brian was asked about the final scene between Christy and Jim Martin (Ben Foster), the boxer’s coach and abusive husband who nearly ends up killing her. While O’Brian wasn’t on set when Christy and Jim’s tense scene was filmed, she reveals her reaction to the moment, and why she appreciates how director David Michôd approached it.

I wasn’t. I’m glad I wasn’t. I assume, like most people, I don’t enjoy watching violence against women. I’d rather not. One thing that I really loved about how David handled that was so much of it was in expressions. You didn’t really see the knife going in and in and in. I think that that could feel very… like an additional violation in a way. Then there were also some other scenes of violence where you see it just happens behind the scene, off camera. I think that that is really important to show, that this is what happens in people’s lives as well. They might, in public or in day-to-day life, seem healthy, like they have a normal relationship, and what happens that you don’t see is the part that’s really traumatic. And a lot of that happened completely off-screen, which for me was very powerful. I think it was a lot more tasteful for him to do it that way.

Beyond just being a traditional sports drama movie, Christy deals with many important issues, including domestic violence. For O’Brian, it is important that the ending focuses more on the characters’ expressions and incidents that occur off-screen instead of showing every detail of the violence. The film also emphasizes how these relationships can seem normal and healthy on the outside, while the rest of the world doesn’t see the trauma unfolding.

Christy‘s reviews have been mixed, but Sweeney’s performance has been consistently praised by critics, emphasizing how she immerses herself in the leading role. Her performance can also be tied back to her deep understanding of the real Christy Martin, as evidenced by her explanation of how Christy feels when she gets blood in the car.

There have even been discussions about Sweeney receiving an Oscars 2026 nomination for Best Actress. From Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) to Emma Stone (Bugonia), it is a highly competitive year for this category, but the strength of Sweeney’s performance and the positive response to it could still lead to a nomination.

Regardless of what happens during awards season, Christy has been recognized for telling an important story and featuring some of the career-best performances from Sweeney and O’Brian. Sweeney’s next movie is The Housemaid, releasing December 19, while O’Brian’s is The Running Man, releasing November 14.

Release Date

November 7, 2025

Runtime

135 minutes

Director

David Michôd

Writers

Mirrah Foulkes, David Michôd

Producers

Brent Stiefel, Kerry Kohansky-Roberts, Sydney Sweeney, Teddy Schwarzman, John Friedberg, Michael Heimler, Justin Lothrop, Brad Zimmerman, David Levine