Photo:Kevin Mazur/Getty, Devin Yalkin/A24
Kevin Mazur/Getty, Devin Yalkin/A24
Jeremy Allen Whitemay play the Texas Tornado inThe Iron Claw, but in real life, he wasn’t sure he could physically match the iconic wrestler — especially alongside his buff costarZac Efron.
White, 32, stars as the late Kerry Von Erich whileHarris DickinsonandStanley Simonsstar as David and Mike Von Erich respectively.
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Efron, 36, and White both bulked up for the film, they shared at a New York City Q&A at the East Coast premiere of the movie, but it was Efron’sphysique that blew crowds away in teasersand photos.
“Yeah, I didn’t want to stand near Zac. I saw him and I went, ‘Can Harris [Dickinson] stand next to him?'” White joked at the premiere. “No, I mean, Zac looked so amazing and I think, yeah, just being around him was a motivator for me to eat more, train more.”
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The Bearstar added that he didn’t believe it would be “physically possible” for him to transform into Kerry, considering his own smaller physique.
“I knew I couldn’t get as big as Kerry. I just don’t think it was physically possible for me,” White said. “I’m a pretty little guy, but I tried. I don’t think it’s possible for any human on the planet.”
“There is this story I love about Schwarzenegger,” White shared. “Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kerry were in the same room once, and Kerry popped his shirt off and Arnold Schwarzenegger himself was too nervous to take his shirt off around Kerry. That’s how big this man was. We were all trying.”
Eric Chakeen/A24
To practice as authentically as possible, production shipped in real ’80s equipment and within two weeks, Efron, White and Dickinson were filming “full matches” in front of real crowds, Durkin said.
Efron elaborated that for his role, theBaywatchstar watched videos of Kevin’s performance in the ring, attempting to mimic his choreography and “unique” physicality.
“I knew that going into it, physically relating to Kevin or being able to get into that shape, to do that, you have to become kind of obsessed. It takes over your life,” Efron said. “That’s all you’re doing is eating, sleeping, training and wrestling. That’s what they were doing in real life. [In] the prep for this movie, we all started hanging out in the ring, but really our lives outside of that were kind of nonexistent, and that that really helped me figure out Kevin’s mindset.”
The Iron Clawis in theaters Dec. 22.
source: people.com
