He might have been cursed trying to get the Janis Joplin biopic off the ground, but it now appears that Sean Durkin will hit the mat with his Von Erich portrait — and the first to get in the ring is the naturally buff Zac Efron. Titled The Iron Claw (a signature move utilized by the family in the ring), Deadline reports that A24 folks will be backing the project. When we first learned that Durkin was circling the project we dived a bit deeper and found a take filled with tragedy. Also joining the project we find Durkin tag-teaming with The Nest (and James White) cinematographer Mátyás Erdély.
Durkin’s third feature film is produced by A24, along with BBC Films folks Tessa Ross, Derrin Schlesinger and Harrison Huffman. Based on the true story of the Von Erichs, the film follows the rise and fall of the Von Erich family, a dynasty of wrestlers who made a huge impact on the sport from the 1960s to the present day. Here is the lengthy wiki entry.
The period that the film will likely focus on is the 80’s to early 90’s portion. We believe that Efron would play Kerry Von Erich and further casting will include friends and foes in the ring and the not so easy task of the entire wrestling family including heart broken former wrestler patriarch Fritz Von Erich. We’ve had the chance to interview Sean multiple times including his 2020 award-winning The Nest (a Sundance selection).
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).
