"The Iron Claw" - Amazing facts about Zac Efron's movie role
Zac Efron (36) returns to the big screen and once again shows how multifaceted he can be in front of the camera. In the film drama "The Iron Claw", which can be seen in cinemas from December 21 and is based on a true story, the former "High School Musical" star plays the lead role as US professional wrestler Kevin Von Erich (66), for which he has taken on a lot. The most exciting facts about Efron and his latest film project.
This is 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 a huge impact 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 to follow in the footsteps of his strict father in 1976. But fame also comes with its downsides. Father Fritz constantly puts his sons under enormous pressure, until a tragedy occurs that confronts the family with a 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 to date. There's no mistaking what the actor has taken on for the movie. As his role is predominantly seen bare-chested, Efron's steely muscles are immediately obvious. Efron already cut a similar figure in the 2017 film adaptation of 'Baywatch', but the role demanded everything from him.
The strict diet in particular had taken its toll on him: "I started to suffer from insomnia and slipped into a pretty bad depression for a long time," the "High School Musical" star told Men's Health magazine in an interview in 2022. Training alone was not enough to get the six-pack he wanted for the film. He had to eat the same three meals every day. Sleep was also out of the question. Even when filming went on until midnight, Efron would get up again at 4 a.m. - to train. It wasn't until around six months after the film had been shot that he finally felt okay again.
How he trained for "The Iron Claw"
Despite these hardships, Efron was highly motivated for his new film role. As he told "Entertainment Tonight", the true story of Kevin Von Erich "really motivated me to get in shape for this movie". Efron raved about the physical commitment that the wrestler used to bring to the ring every day. "I knew it was going to be the hardest thing for me to master and do it right. So I put everything I had into it."
His "Shrek" look "shocked" him himself
When the first pictures from the set emerged at the end of 2022, fans were initially astonished by Efron's enormous transformation. Comparisons with the 'Shrek' character Lord Farquaad went viral on social media, mainly because of the wrestler's bowl cut. And for Efron, too, the transformation was "shocking at every point". When he and his co-star Harris Dickinson (27) first got the full movie looks in make-up, they looked at each other and thought: "What the hell are we doing here?", Efron told "Entertainment Tonight". "But I think it ended up looking really good and we had a great team to help us with it."
Actors alongside Zac Efron
In addition to Zac Efron, the film drama by Sean Durkin (42), who also wrote the screenplay, also features other well-known stars: 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) and Aaron Dean Eisenberg (Ric Flair). Filming began in Baton Rouge in October 2022.
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Source: www.stern.de
