‘That’s No Way to Live’: Zac Efron’s Partner Gained 40 Pounds to Play Iron Claw

What is it about? The inseparable Von Erich brothers left their mark on professional wrestling history in the early 80s. Trained by their tyrannical father with an iron fist, they must fight in the ring and in life. Amidst the triumphs and tragedies, this new A24-produced gem is inspired by their own history.

“This is no way to live.”

To play impulsive wrestler Kerry Von Erich, Jeremy Allen White, like Zac Efron, Harris Dickinson and Stanley Simons, trained like a professional wrestler and ate a lot. In total, he gained 18 kilos. The actor recalls: “I never stopped eating, I ate waffles with almond butter in the morning, turkey and avocado during the day.” This is really disgusting. I had to consume as much as I could, and to be honest, I didn’t feel so good. I’ve been training a lot too, but trying to get this big is no way to live.”

Sean Durkin loves to wrestle

Born in 1981, Sean Durkin grew up in England. Information about Texas wrestling in the late 1980s and early 1990s was not easy to come by. At the time, although it was possible to obtain VHS tapes of old events, they were rare. His most reliable sources of information were magazines like Pro Wrestling Illustrated. The director recalls: “I went through the papers one day and found the last issue, which was probably a few months old. My mother bought it for me and I read it while we were having dinner at a Chinese restaurant one day. Saturday night.”

“I remember turning to the page and reading about Kerry Von Erich’s passing. It broke my heart. I’d seen him wrestle a few times and was a big fan of him and his family. I knew his other brothers had passed away a while ago. And it was hard to think about another brother going. It was very There was a lot. My thoughts were with his family and that memory stayed somewhere in the back of my mind for most of my life.”

All of Zac Efron’s muscles

For iron claw purposes, Zac Efron has (again) muscle. For this, the 36-year-old actor chose “bulking”, a fitness method that combines excess calories and intense weight training. Goal: to increase muscles (and therefore physical strength) very significantly, gradually reduce fat mass. Practices that can be dangerous for the body if not strictly supervised by a coach: in terms of bodybuilding, rest time and especially diet.

Generally speaking, bulking involves consuming about 20% more calories per day than your body needs in order to increase your weight by about 0.5% each week. This amounts to an intake of about 2,750 calories per day while still eating relatively healthily (with strict control of various nutrient levels in the diet). At the same time, exercises with dumbbells should be intense and progressive, which favors short sets with heavy weights.

Zac Efron transformed into his best role! Why not miss Iron Claw at the cinema?

A tragic fate

If the father, Fritz von Erich (Holt McCallan) lived to be 68 (he died in 1997), five of the six sons died before him, three of them by suicide… the eldest, Jack Jr., died accidentally. when he was six years old. In 1984 David (Harris Dickinson) died due to acute intestinal enteritis. mike (Stanley Simmons), Chris (Sean Durkin chose not to include him in the film so as not to darken the plot even more) and Carrie (Jeremy Allen White) committed suicide in 1987, 1991 and 1993. Zac Efron’s role as Kevin is the only one still alive in the film.

Dallas Sportatorium

Reconstructing the Sportatorium, which hosts various wrestling events, was a real challenge, as production designer James Price recalls: “It was a pretty messed up place. There’s a little film on YouTube where you can see Kevin walking around when it was torn down in the early 2000s. He says he still had scars on his back from girls cutting him when he and his brothers came down to the ring. It was a very intimate place and we wanted to stay true to that. It felt like we were in a warehouse, and that’s what we tried to recreate.

James and his team recreated the environment in which the Von Erichs competed, from Fritz’s office overlooking the ring to the locker room where the guys started and finished their matches: The set would allow one shot to start in the locker room, follow the Von Erich brothers backstage, then move into the interview room and finish in the ring. As soon as the actors entered this set, they found themselves immersed in this world and there. It was impossible to lie.”