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Zac Efron teamed up with Jeremy Allen White, Stanley Simons, and Harris Dickinson to play the Von Erich Brothers in A24’s The Iron Claw. Despite the “Von Erich curse” leading to a series of family tragedies, these brothers made history in the world of professional wrestling during the ‘70s and ‘80s. As the real-life Von Erich family consisted of five brothers who wrestled, the biopic’s director Sean Durkin explains why one of the brothers was left out of the movie.
If you know the real story of the Von Erich wrestling dynasty, there were five brothers who entered the ring Kevin, Kerry, Mike, David, and Chris. If you were confused about only seeing four brothers in The Iron Claw’s insane trailer, it’s because brother Chris Von Erich is not included in the movie. Sean Durkin spoke to the Los Angeles Times about why Chris was excluded:
There was a repetition to it, and it was one more tragedy that the film couldn’t really withstand.
Chris Von Erich was, unfortunately, one of the brothers who succumbed to an early death that tied into the “Von Erich curse.” The youngest member of the family apparently struggled to match the success of his brothers in the wrestling ring due to his brittle bone condition and asthma. He died by suicide in 1991 at the age of 21. Originally, Durkin said Chris was in the script for five years and that removing him was an “impossible choice” he fought against for a while.
While it would have been nice to see the story of all of the brothers represented, I can understand why the Canadian filmmaker decided against including Chris because there’s already so much family tragedy told in over two hours of the movie. Plus with so many brothers in the sports drama, I’m sure that would also be a challenge giving each actor enough screen time to show audiences a full character exploration of each wrestler.
Despite Chris Von Erich not being included in The Iron Claw, it looks like it didn’t stop the real-life family from praising the sports drama. Jeremy Allen White said during the film’s first screening that his character’s daughters were present as well as Zac Efron’s character Kevin Von Erich, who is the remaining surviving sibling. Jeremy Allen White said “it meant the world” to him to have the real-life family supportive of the movie that everyone made sure honored the true characters well.
The oldest surviving member of the family also gave Efron credit for his portrayal, honestly saying “it’s not easy to be me” in showing close to 30 years of his wrestling career on-screen. Considering how based-on-a-true-story films tend to embellish or change things to please audiences, it’s a true compliment that the Von Erichs liked what they saw.
While audiences will get to know four of the Von Erich brothers in The Iron Claw, Chris will not be included. With Kevin, Kerry, Mike, and David’s personal tragedies already being shown on-screen, Sean Durkin made the decision to not add another brother’s tragic outcome into the mix. The 2023 movie release of The Iron Claw is in theaters now. Also, make sure to check out our 2024 movie releases as the end of the year approaches.