The Iron Claw director explains why he cast “amazing” Zac Efron

The tragic wrestling drama finds Efron in more dramatic territory than we’re used to.

By Patrick Cremona

Published: Thursday, 08 February 2024 at 11:47 AM

Although Zac Efron has had an extremely successful career – proving himself an enormously engaging performer in a range of musicals and comedies – he hasn’t had too many opportunities to showcase his more serious dramatic acting chops.

But in Sean Durkin’s new film The Iron Claw, the former High School Musical star gets the chance to do just that – playing the real-life wrestler Kevin Von Erich, whose family was beset by a string of unfathomable tragedies in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

His heartbreaking performance has been widely acclaimed by critics, and speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com ahead of the film’s UK release, Durkin explained why he thought Efron would be the perfect fit, even though it’s a rather different role than we’ve seen from him in the past.

“Just in general, I just like watching him,” he said. “I actually try to not cast people based on what they’ve done before. I look for like, something that I liked that they did, or something of an element maybe that they did that would apply.

“But I’m always trying to get someone into something that no one else is putting them in. That doesn’t happen with everybody, but that’s what I’m often trying to do.

“So I cast Zack because I hadn’t seen him in anything like it. And that was exciting to me, because I just love him as a performer, I think his comedy in particular is amazing.”

Of course, Efron isn’t the only big name to feature in the cast: he’s joined by the likes of Lily James, Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickinson, with the latter two playing two of Kevin’s brothers, Kerry and David.

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Durkin – who has a background in casting – explained that it was of utmost importance to find actors who could match their energies to each other, especially when it came to creating a family bond.

“We started with Zac, knowing what he feels like, and then adding Harris [who] just has an ease about him, like a playful ease that I think, is a nice contrast to Kevin’s more inner sort of quiet sweetness.

“And then casting Stanley [Simons] as Mike, finding someone with that real little brother energy, like youthful, fun, a bit funny, bit goofy, and then adding in Jeremy’s intensity. It’s just about that blend.”

As still from the film The Iron Claw showing Zac Efron as Kevin, Holt McCallany as Fritz, Harris Dickinson as David and Jeremy Allen White as Kerry playing American football on some grass
Zac Efron as Kevin, Holt McCallany as Fritz, Harris Dickinson as David and Jeremy Allen White as Kerry in The Iron Claw.

It also helped that the actors cast as the Von Erich brothers had plenty of time to get to know each other and form a connection during filming – with the first two weeks of production taking place at the Von Erich ranch set.

“I think that helps,” Durkin added. “There was a lot of downtime in the field throwing a football or working out in the gym – the garage gym that’s in the set was a real gym – and they would work out there.

“And just, like, sitting round the dinner table, they would just sit in for themselves while we were lighting and sort of talk, so you really felt the sense of family.”