Vanity Fair
  • last year
'The Iron Claw' director Sean Durkin is joined by stars of the film Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickinson as he breaks down the scene where the Von Erich brothers legendarily steps into the ring together. Hear them discuss the intricate details that went into production, the rhythm and coordination behind the physicality and even getting WCCW referee James Beard who was very close with Kerry in real life.

Director: Funmi Sunmonu
Director of Photography: Matt Krueger
Editor: Jared Hutchinson
Producer: Juliet Lopez
Associate Producer: Meb Beyene
Talent Booker: Lauren Mendoza
Camera Operator: Osiris Nascimento (Larkin)
Sound Mixer: Kara Johnson
Production Assistant: Fernando Barajas
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Jovan James
Supervising Editor: Erica Dillman
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds
Transcript
00:00 You're supposed to make contact right around the chest, neck almost,
00:05 but then pull it at the last...
00:07 She doesn't want to do it.
00:08 Yeah, let's just hit it.
00:09 We just go like...
00:10 [imitates punching]
00:12 Yeah, that's it. That was still really good.
00:14 Without the contact, make a slap, but it's not like a...
00:17 It doesn't hurt at all, right?
00:19 It's supposed to.
00:20 [laughter]
00:21 Hi, I'm Zac Efron.
00:23 I'm Jeremy Allen White.
00:24 Hi, I'm Harris Dickinson.
00:26 I'm Sean Durkin, director of The Iron Claw, and this is Notes on a Scene.
00:30 [music]
00:36 I've been a fan of Von Erich's since I was about nine years old.
00:40 As a kid, I was just blown away by them in the ring.
00:43 They just had this connection in the ring and excitement,
00:47 and I just loved the way the sportatorium looked.
00:49 That's where they wrestled.
00:51 And it just looked different than anything else I had seen in the world of wrestling,
00:54 and so I was really drawn to them and just wanted to explore
00:58 what their life was like outside the ring as well as in it.
01:01 This is a scene where Fritz is trying to control their fate
01:06 and get them all in the ring.
01:08 I don't know if you've been thinking about your future,
01:10 but you should think about wrestling.
01:12 Now, I wouldn't wish wrestling on any of you.
01:14 I only wrestle to provide for you all,
01:16 and I always hoped you boys would choose another profession.
01:18 So that scene was supposed to be the hottest day,
01:21 the height of a Texas summer, guys working in the fields,
01:25 but it was freezing cold.
01:27 It was like 37 degrees and really windy,
01:30 and these four guys had to have their shirts off for hours out there.
01:33 We were just doing press-ups the whole time.
01:35 We were just like--every time I looked over at Jeremy,
01:37 I was just like trying to keep warm.
01:39 But the Olympics has been taken from you,
01:41 the way professional football was taken from me.
01:44 The world keeps taken from us, and I'm sick of it.
01:48 I want to fight back.
01:50 And the more of us in it together, the better.
01:53 So, Kerry, I want you to join your brothers in the ring.
01:57 Yes, sir. I'd love that.
02:00 We all haven't seen it that many times.
02:02 We're just like, ooh, that's a good scene. I love it.
02:05 There's a thing to play with in the whole family
02:09 where it was like a duty that you're going to follow your fathers
02:12 and then your brothers' footsteps into the ring.
02:14 And with Kerry and with Mike,
02:18 there were other paths for them if things had gone differently.
02:21 We always were trying to play those really subtly under the surface.
02:25 Kerry's almost out.
02:27 Yeah, yeah.
02:29 Glad to hear it, son.
02:31 Thank you.
02:33 Gives you training a little bit.
02:43 Woo!
02:45 Okay!
02:47 There was also something about--
02:49 It was like we weren't able to celebrate until Fritz moved away.
02:54 There almost had to be a moment of stoicism around him.
02:59 And then once he got far enough away,
03:01 we felt like we were comfortable enough to have a moment together.
03:04 And one of the interesting things, I remember we were--
03:07 Once again, off camera, we were uncomfortable hearing the news.
03:11 But then as soon as he came around, we were actually pretty stoked.
03:15 There's always obviously a level of quiet competition or loud competition.
03:20 But at this time, was there that aspect and a shared moment between you guys?
03:25 We were mostly just happy to have you back.
03:27 We're just stoked.
03:29 Also hearing him say, "I never wanted you to be a wrestler,"
03:32 we were like, "Really?"
03:34 Yeah.
03:35 And you had that that day.
03:37 You brought that that day.
03:38 I thought that was really good.
03:39 Because Fritz loved to say things like,
03:41 "Yeah, I would never want this for you,"
03:43 and completely guide everyone into the ring.
03:45 Yeah, exactly.
03:47 Yeah, the energy is totally different once he steps away.
03:50 Yeah, the tension drops.
03:52 And it is that feel, the trajectory shifting.
03:55 I think there's both fear and excitement in this thing.
03:58 I think Kerry had just gotten home and excited to see everybody,
04:02 but also probably feeling incredibly lost.
04:06 And then here, you can see all of the post work that he's--
04:11 Here's Mike and his shovel.
04:15 So that scene ends with these three guys coming together,
04:17 but little brother Mike is sort of left out.
04:20 So this is a perspective change now to how Mike contributes through his love of music.
04:25 And it's through him playing Tom Sawyer,
04:28 where Kerry gets the idea for their entrance music.
04:31 [music]
04:36 Those 20s?
04:48 [music]
04:53 [music]
04:56 That was the actual song that they came out to.
04:59 And it rocks.
05:01 [music]
05:05 So we're using this slow push in here for this moment of this music arriving.
05:11 And then this is the image of the boys coming out together,
05:15 and it's one of the first images I remember from seeing them wrestling.
05:19 Sort of frantic energy in the Sportatorium,
05:21 and the way the fans just threw themselves at these three guys when they were together.
05:25 It was their collective energy that really set them apart.
05:29 [music]
05:30 And then the camera moves around the ring.
05:33 We timed that with this coordinated move,
05:36 where the guys are throwing off their jackets at the same time,
05:38 rolling in the ring, and then going into--
05:40 We've never done that before.
05:42 From the jackets to the slide under, I feel like we were all on different--
05:46 Rhythm.
05:48 It's a small place to get through.
05:51 That's like a wire.
05:53 If you have a foot up or your face is up, you just run into a taut wire.
05:58 So we were all just diving underneath it.
06:00 I don't think we had really gotten it in perfect timing.
06:04 One of us had always caught a heel or caught a knee.
06:06 And that wasn't something we really did before.
06:08 That was really on the day.
06:10 And also getting the slide, right?
06:12 That was the other thing, doing it with enough pace.
06:14 We wanted the camera to be moving at a certain speed.
06:17 But amazingly, we only did this twice.
06:20 We didn't do it a lot, right?
06:21 Yeah, and I think this was actually the first take that we used.
06:23 There was also that thing of adrenaline, right?
06:25 There's, I don't know, 300 people in here just on their feet.
06:29 And you were lost in the track as well.
06:31 And the track was playing.
06:32 So there's a real adrenaline to it that I think takes over,
06:36 that makes up for any lack of getting it right in rehearsal or anything.
06:41 Look at Silas coming at you. That's a large man.
06:43 Silas, like you said, he's 6'5", 6'6", massive.
06:47 And he was like, "We got this."
06:49 I was like, "Really? Sure, I don't think you can throw."
06:51 He goes, "You just run up the ropes and then just hold on."
06:54 Yeah, yeah.
06:55 He's kind of taking you on a ride.
06:56 Yeah, he's like, "I'm just going to take you for a ride."
06:58 I was like, "All right, sweet."
06:59 And then I remember the first time I did it,
07:01 I made this sound when he pulled me over.
07:03 I was like, "Eee!"
07:05 I was like, "I need to not do that. I don't want to film it."
07:08 [music]
07:09 Also, these guys are so good with their reactions.
07:12 They take all the punches really, really well.
07:15 And we got to work with some really good actors.
07:16 I don't think I could have--if I wanted to hurt that man, I don't think I could.
07:20 I mean, the difference was wrestling when these guys--
07:22 like the real Kevin Von Erich, they were hitting each other.
07:26 They were like, "You're coming into my house.
07:29 I'm going to hit you and show you who's boss."
07:31 Yeah, that was kind of something Kevin was pretty well known for.
07:35 They put themselves on the line to make it as real as possible,
07:39 and that involved quite a bit of hitting.
07:42 So then this is the building of the sports montage that I always dreamed of doing.
07:45 So we're just going back and forth between the gym and the preparation and in the ring.
07:50 And then another fun fact, this referee, James Beard,
07:53 he was an actual WCCW referee and was very, very close with Kerry in particular.
08:02 And he was there on this day, and so he was coming over to the monitor after
08:05 and standing with me and just sort of giving me the thumbs up on things.
08:10 [music]
08:19 Oh, my God.
08:20 This always scared me.
08:21 It scared me, too.
08:22 I did not like you doing this.
08:24 I didn't feel how close my head was to the mat in the moment,
08:27 but then, yeah, watching the playback, I was like, "Oh, wow, that was--."
08:30 It's pretty incredible, and I didn't see you guys.
08:33 You guys worked on that one when I wasn't around,
08:35 so I didn't see that live until we did it,
08:37 and I couldn't believe that you could do that.
08:39 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:40 It was quite a funny position to--
08:42 Yeah, let's leave this right here.
08:43 [laughter]
08:46 It's a great pose.
08:47 [music]
08:50 You were doing those real awesome.
08:51 That's also very impressive.
08:52 Could you do these before the movie, or did you learn to do these?
08:56 I think I could do maybe a couple of them before.
09:00 Could you do some now for us?
09:02 I'll do--one second, one second.
09:04 [music]
09:06 It's so fun to watch this back with you, dude, to go on this journey with you, man.
09:09 It's so fun.
09:10 I feel like you took me back there, too, so it's really special.
09:14 Thanks for watching Notes on the Scene for The Iron Claw,
09:16 and we hope you enjoy the movie.
09:18 [slurping]
09:19 Nice.
09:21 Might look like I made it in fifth grade.
09:22 Don't need to do that one again.
09:23 [laughter]