Transcription
But you're a 13-year-old girl. Like, what does fighting give you at that time in your life? The element of surprise.
You see the great boots. Great shoes, too, C.
I know. You really We pulled through the shoe game.
Strong shoe game.
I usually show up in my PJs. For whatever reason, I was like, you know what? I'm going to I'm going to just actually get dressed.
And then everyone liked the outfit. I was like, "Wow, this is the first time."
I'm so flattered. Okay, so we're good.
Okay. Well, we're going.
We're going.
Okay. I feel really lucky to be talking to you right now in particular because you're a producer with a film with festival buzz. Congratulations. How does it feel to have Christie out in the world?
Christy is one of those projects and stories that like when you're making it, the crew, the cast, everyone involved, we all knew it was going to be something special. We had Christy with us on set many days. Um, we would sometimes just like cry because of how powerful the story is. And so being able to share that experience with the world and to be able to show Christiey's story to the world is so impactful and I'm beyond honored and proud that we were able to bring the story to life in the beginning. It's also really fun.
For context, like you've got headgear on.
Yes. You've got a mouth guard and you are grinning as you punch people.
And you look completely unself-conscious and completely joyful. First of all, was it as much fun as it looked?
It was so much fun. I was over the moon. I felt like I finally came to life myself through Christy. We really shaped every single fight to match Christiey's fights. And so all the different combos that you see me doing are the actual combos from the fights. And I had the best girls to box with because they were down to actually fight and we would do full contact. We were punching each other in the face. And so a lot of those reactions are me as Christy, but also me just like couldn't believe that I actually did it just then.
So you have a a background in martial arts.
I do.
Okay. So tell me about that. You're what 13?
Yeah, I was like 12, 13 and I started kickboxing and grappling and I trained at Gokore Highest with Sensei Gene Leel and Benny Leette and Gokor. And I did that from 12, 13 years old until I was about 19. And then I booked Handmaid's Tail and Euphoria. And I was like, I can't I can't fight and film at the same time 'cause I'd come home with bruises. So I put it to the side. But I always wanted to find a story that would be able to bring that side of myself out.
But you're a 13-year-old girl. Like, what does fighting give you at that time in your life?
The element of surprise. I was the only girl there. So there it was a lot of talk of, oh, what is she doing here? The dads are kind of a little like upset that their sons would be fighting a girl. And then I would sometimes win.
Okay. So I have this sense that you're someone who keeps a strong division between your characters and your personal self. And I just wondered if that is harder when you've done this physical transformation for a character like Christy. You come home or come back to your hotel room like in her body in some ways.
I actually learned so much more about myself throughout the process and I am someone who I build my book for my character and I learn everything about her life so that I can fully jump in and out. And throughout that process of building Christy and and working with Christy and and filming the movie, I started realizing I was like, "Oh, wow. I actually have more in common with her than I realized. She is fighting a fight in her home life and she's also fighting a fight in the public. And I think that for me, I I find myself in a lot of battles um both in front and and not in front of the world. So, uh, I definitely can relate. I mean, Christy is a story about domestic violence and um specifically like homophobia and domestic violence. And The Housemaid, which I also saw, takes on domestic violence from in a different totally different genre.
And then I did read that your American Eagle collection benefited a domestic violence charity. Is that Do I have all that right?
Yes.
Okay. You spent a lot of time this year working around that issue and I just wondered if it meant something to you.
It does. I will always speak out about something that is important to me. And for me to to speak out, I use art. And I think that through my characters in my movies, it's a way for me to be able to do my part that I can and spread awareness in in different ways through my characters. And um that's how I've always learned to communicate. And it is it's really important.
If I look at your IMDb page.
Okay.
I'm thinking about, you know, you're on Euphoria, which is a show that covers a lot of topics without, you know, taking a mold stance on any of them. And you did reality, which I love, which like brought a lot of attention and humanity to the story of reality winner, the whistleblower. It does not look like a very political career. But you have become very swept up in politics. And so I wondered if that has surprised you as you put your ideas and yourself into art, not commentary.
I've always believed that I'm not here to tell people what to think. I'm just here to kind of open their eyes to different ideas. And so I think that's why I gravitate towards characters and stories that are complicated and are maybe morally questionable and characters that are on the page hard to like, but then you find the humanity underneath them. And that's what I've always leaned towards.
I think a lot of people feel like it's better for art if artists can keep themselves a little bit separate from politics.
Yeah. I've never talked about my personal life.
I know. So, what I'm going to do is talk about um your year as a phenomenon in the culture. Okay. And a big thing that happened to you this year is that you ended your engagement. And I got push notifications about it. It was and we all sort of looked up and we're like, "Oh, Sydney Sweeney isn't just a talented actress and an up-and-coming producer. She's someone that people are really obsessed with and really fascinated by."
Oh, man.
I know. And I just I wondered, did your sense of your own fame change this year?
No. I surround myself with a really, really strong group of people who have been in my life since I was little. And they take me out of Hollywood, take me out of this bubble and remind me what the real world is and that that's where I exist. The idea of fame, it doesn't apply to my personal life. I'm just sad.
You can't feel the difference in the volume at times.
If I turn on my phone, yes. If I have my phone off and I'm home, no.
Right. Okay. So, what is it like now being single? Are are you single?
I'm single.
Okay. You're single. You are out there now as a person who has a lot of power. I would say.
Person who people are obsessed with and someone who I gather is like really really focused on their work.
So I wonder how does that change what you're looking for?
I don't think I'm looking for a man right now. What I've learned this year is that I have a really, really amazing group of girlfriends and I am strong and independent and that I'm going to be okay. If love finds me, love finds me. I'm hopeless romantic, so I hope love finds me. But, uh, I'm also I'm not the type of person that wants to go out all the time. And I I do believe in like true love and wanting to be with someone for the rest of my life. So I'm not going to you won't see me jumping around a lot of places.
Wait. Jumping around a lot of places like.
Like guys.
Oh, okay.
Yeah. Um Okay. So you are making Anyone But You and they're sort of what do we call it like a game almost with with sort of letting rumors build about you and Glenn and we all now know that that was a projection let's say on our parts that wasn't real. But it occurred to me that maybe that story doesn't go so viral if you're not a very private person. I imagine there are personal benefits to being private about your personal life, but are there also professional benefits to being private about your personal life?
The professional benefits for me and being private is for my own just health and sanity. If I let everybody in all the time, I have nothing for myself. And I am just a 27-year-old. Oh, I'm 28 now. I turned 27, 28 yesterday.
Happy birthday.
Thank you. But I'm just a 28-year-old woman who's trying to figure it out. And I'm still learning. And I'm going to make mistakes and I'm going to grow. And I think that it's important to be able to do that without having to say every single thing all the time.
Right. Okay. But so you're never tempted to just like open your notes app and say, "This is what I really think and this is who I am and this is what's going on in my life." Like stop guessing and projecting.
I mean, I'll vent to my girlfriends, but other than that, no.
No.
No.
Okay. That's honestly really impressive. Like.
I know who I am.
Right?
I know what I value. I know that I'm a kind person. I know that I love a lot. And I know that I'm just excited to see what happens next. And so I don't really let other people define who I am.
I'm happy to hear that. I love I love secondhand concern for you lately. We're sort of talking around this American Eagle ad right now and maybe we should just talk about it. So were you surprised by the reaction?
I did a Gene ad. I mean, the reaction definitely was a surprise, but it was I I I love jeans. All I wear are jeans. I'm literally in jeans and a t-shirt like every day of my life.
Jeans are uncontroversial. Jeans are awesome. I like your jeans.
You look great in your jeans. I think I know how you're going to answer this, but I'm going to ask anyway. I mean, the president tweeted about the jeans ad or Truth Social about the jeans ad, and that just seems to me uh like a very crazy moment for anyone. And I wondered what that was like.
It was surreal.
It was surreal.
Mhm.
And it would be totally human. Uh, I would probably feel like thankful that somebody had my back in public, you know, and conveniently some very powerful people had my back in public. And I wondered if if you felt that way.
I don't think I don't think that it's not that that feeling didn't I didn't have that feeling, but I wasn't thinking of it like that or like of any of it. I kind of just put my phone away. I was filming every day. I'm filming Euphoria. So, I'm working like 16-hour days and I don't really bring my phone on set. So, I work and then I go home and I go to sleep. So, I didn't really I didn't really see a lot of it.
You've made a really good case for keeping your thoughts and your life separate from that work. But the risk is that, you know, there's a chance that somebody will get some idea about what you think about certain issues. And feel like I don't want to see Christie because of that. Like, do you worry about that?
No.
No. If somebody if somebody is closed off because of something they read online to a powerful story like Christie, then I hope that I hope something else can open their eyes to being open to art and being open to learning. And I'm not going to be affected by that.
Yeah. You've come here like really willing to talk about this whole discourse that doesn't have that much to do with you and I'm grateful for that.
Um.
Did you is there something that you want to say about the ad itself? The Sydney Sweeney has great jeans. Do you have.
The ad spoke for itself.
You think the ad spoke for itself? Okay. And the criticism of the content which was basically that maybe specifically in this political climate like white people shouldn't joke about genetic superiority like that was kind of like the criticism broadly speaking and since you are talking about this I just wanted to give you an opportunity to talk about that specifically.
I think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear.
We should talk about Cassie. You got back together with Cassie. You spent some time in Cassie Land.
I am.
I wondered if after the break and after the changes in your life since the last time you were Cassie, if you came back to that role with a different perspective on her, her character, her arc.
Mhm.
Well, Cassie and the whole world of Euphoria is now five years ahead. So, all the characters are living in the real world. They're dealing with very real-world life problems. And Cassie, Cassie's just so much fun. She's so crazy. And I don't know if I can implement any of my own knowledge or life experiences to Cassie 'cause she's just so on her own plane and in her own world and thinks completely differently. It's such a a fun roller coaster ride because I'm getting to go to all these insane places. She's crazy. I thank Sam like every day for giving me a character like her in my 20s because Sam put together a show of like a powerhouse lineup of really interesting storylines and characters. And being able to go back to Cassie and grow with her and go even crazier is is is such a treat. Like I I I always feel like I'm going home.
One thing we haven't talked about that you've talked about a lot um but I wonder how it's coming up now in your work is um the way women and women women actors and you are are represented on screen. The early part of your career was defined by a lot of chatter about that, right? About is it an empowering or not an empowering blah blah blah like expression.
In regards to my body.
Yeah. And like Cassie I think brought that out and that doesn't really seem to be part of the story anymore. And I wonder if you feel like Hollywood is changing or if it has to do with being an actor producer roles.
I think that the conversation around it is changing. I've always looked at a woman's body as a very beautiful, powerful tool. I transform my body for Christy. It's a challenge, but then also really amazing at the same time that we're capable of doing stuff like that and being able to tell stories through our body. And I've always looked at it that way. I've always looked at it as my body as another tool to tell this story.
How does using that tool change when you are more in the driver's seat as a producer? I mean, I'm thinking about The Housemaid. Like.
There's a scene in that where you're in this home theater and you're wearing like a push-up bra and it's just like, okay, this is.
Not a push-up bra. This is just my boobs.
Wow. Fact check me.
Fact checking.
That's just like a sports bra or something.
Good god.
Okay. I mean, she's wearing what she'd wear to bed. She's being comfortable. It's for herself. It's not for anybody else.
Great. That I mean, that was sort of where I was going with it, though, is that watching that scene, I had this feeling of there's a self-awareness and knowingness to this that, you know, it is a casual sweatshirt. Her boobs are out. And then you're like the the wife comes in and like comments on it. In this way that to me felt very uh like funny letting Sydney use her body in this way but also commenting on it in a knowing way that lets you know that we're all in on this joke. And and I guess I wondered if that is a hallmark of having you having more uh control over the project.
I think so. I think that as time goes on, people will see that I'm way more aware of things that people think.
Can you say a little bit more? I mean, if I say it, then I I like to let the art speak for itself. I think that's where it's fun.
Okay. But you know that you are like you are um giving us permission to keep projecting a little bit. Like we're going to keep taking what you do and like putting it up on our board of like what does Sydney think?
I can't wait to see what the board says.
Okay. That felt like a punctuation.
Wow, it's a beautiful punctuation.
Awesome.
Thank you guys. Yeah, thank you.