What’s Fact and What’s Fiction in ‘The Iron Claw’
The Iron Claw tells the story of the Von Erichs, a wrestling family in Texas that made it all the way to the WWF (before it became the WWE), and what their father, Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany), was willing to do to obtain fame for the family name. As the film hits theaters, those unfamiliar with wrestling are likely wondering if The Iron Claw is based on a true story.
The short answer: Yes. The long answer: The Iron Claw excludes some parts of the tragic story of the Von Erichs, making what we did get a little complicated. So yes, it is a true story. Not all of what we got was true to the family. For one, one of the Von Erich brothers—the one with perhaps the most tragic story—was cut. The movie, which was written and directed by Sean Durkin, weaves a story of the Von Erichs that shows the fear of their family’s “curse” being true.
Patriarch Fritz Von Erich changed his name from Jack Adkisson when he began wrestling, and did so for his entire family. That name would become famous not only in their home state of Texas but also in the world of professional wrestling. What the movie nails is how well-known the Von Erich family has become. Kerry Von Erich (Jeremy Allen White) went on to become a star in the WWF before he died by suicide.
Kevin Von Erich (Zac Efron) is currently the only Von Erich brother still alive, which the movie does tell us, but the movie veers into more fictional territory concerning the Von Erich family in how it completely erases Chris Von Erich from the narrative.
Who did The Iron Claw leave out?
Chris Von Erich tragically died by suicide at the age of 22. He had extremely brittle bones that would break while wrestling, but was still forced into following the family legacy set out by his father. This is similar to how Mike is depicted in the film, which is narratively what Durkin wanted to do instead of including another brother to repeat the same tragedy that the real Von Erichs went through.
Durkin chose to combine Mike Von Erich (Stanley Simons) and Chris Von Erich into one brother. As he explained to Entertainment Weekly, “That was one of the toughest decisions I had to make. You could make nine hours of The Godfather on this family. I didn’t have that opportunity, so I had to make choices of what could fit in a movie.”
Durkin went on to say that the decision to combine elements of Chris with Mike made more sense to him. “We made a choice to narrow [the focus] while trying to keep the essence of him,” Durkin said. “He and his younger brother Chris were both the younger brothers of these three huge, larger-than-life characters,” Simons explains. “I thought that dynamic was interesting. You can see it in the videos you watch of him: He’s obviously super supportive, and wrestling was such a big part of his life. But he also took the brunt of David’s passing and was shoehorned into [wrestling] by his father, a little bit.”
So in short, yes. The Iron Claw has elements of a true story in it. Including whatever it is that Ric Flair is doing. Things were left out for the Hollywood version of the story, but it still doesn’t detract from how good the movie is and the significance of the Von Erich family story.
If you are in crisis, please call, text or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.
(featured image: A24)
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