“The Iron Claw”
The most exciting facts about Zac Efron and his film role
Zac Efron plays wrestler Kevin Von Erich in “The Iron Claw”.
© imago/Landmark Media
Zac Efron plays US wrestler Kevin Von Erich in “The Iron Claw” – probably the “High School Musical” star’s most dramatic role to date…
That’s what “The Iron Claw” is about
First of all: “The Iron Claw” is about the rise and fall of the Von Erich family, a wrestling dynasty from Texas that has had an enormous influence on the sport from the 1960s to the present day. Kevin von Erich (Efron) is one of six sons of the famous professional wrestler Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany, 60) and begins in 1976 to follow in his strict father’s footsteps. But with fame also comes a dark side. Father Fritz always puts his sons under enormous pressure until a tragedy occurs that confronts the family with the cruel reality.
Depression after dieting for “Baywatch”
For Zac Efron it is one of his most tragic and dramatic film roles in his long acting career. There’s no mistaking the lengths the actor went to for the film. Since his role is mostly seen shirtless, Efron’s steel-hard muscles are immediately noticeable. Efron already cut a similar figure in the 2017 “Baywatch” film adaptation. However, the role demanded everything from him.
The strict diet in particular was a problem for him: “I started to suffer from insomnia and slipped into a pretty bad depression for a long time,” said the “High School Musical” star the magazine “Men’s Health” 2022 in an interview. Training alone wasn’t enough to get the six-pack abs you wanted for the film. He had to eat the same three meals every day. Sleep was also out of the question. Even if filming lasted until midnight, Efron got up again at 4 a.m. to train. It wasn’t until about six months after the film was finished that he finally felt okay again.
This is how he trained for “The Iron Claw”
Despite the hardships, Efron’s motivation for his new film role was great. As he told “Entertainment Tonight.”, Kevin Von Erich’s true story “really motivated him to get in shape for this film.” Efron raved about the physical effort the wrestler used to bring to the ring every day. “I knew the hardest part for me would be to master it and do it right. So I put everything I had into it.”
His “Shrek” look “shocked” even him
When the first images from the set emerged at the end of 2022, fans were initially amazed by Efron’s enormous transformation. Comparisons to “Shrek” character Lord Farquaad went viral on social media, particularly because of the wrestler’s bowl cut. And for Efron, too, the transformation was “shocking at all times.” When he and his co-star Harris Dickinson (27) first got the full film looks in the make-up, they looked at each other and thought: “What the hell are we doing here?” Efron told “Entertainment Tonight”. “But I think in the end it looked really good and we had a great team helping us.”
Actor alongside Zac Efron
In addition to Zac Efron, other well-known stars star in the film drama by Sean Durkin (42), who also wrote the screenplay: Lily James (34, Pam Adkisson), Jeremy Allen White (32, Kerry Von Erich), Harris Dickinson (David Von Erich), Maxwell Jacob Friedman (27, Lance Von Erich), Holt McCallany (Fritz Von Erich) or Aaron Dean Eisenberg (Ric Flair). Filming began in October 2022 in Baton Rouge.