The Iron Claw brings professional wrestling back to the big screen. Yes, films like The Wrestler and Fighting with My Family have done that, but Sean Durkin's film is a new take.
Just from the look of the film, you can tell that The Iron Claw is different. Speaking to ClutchPoints about his latest film, Durkin broke down some of his inspirations for his film. Interestingly, boxing films made a bigger impression than fellow pro wrestling movies on him.
A life-long wrestling fan, Durkin also discussed other WWE legends he'd like to adapt in a biopic, having Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, and Harris Dickinson wrestle full matches, and AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF).
Sean Durkin-The Iron Claw interview
ClutchPoints: The first natural question I have for you about The Iron Claw is: Were you a wrestling fan before the movie?
Sean Durkin: Yes, as a kid [I was] a huge wrestling fan, completely obsessed. [chuckles]
CP: Who was your favorite wrestler growing up?
SD: Besides Kevin Von Erich, Bret “The Hitman” Hart.
CP: Despite you being a fan, is there anything about the business or about the Von Erich story that you didn't know going into the film?
SD: Yeah, so, so much. I mean, I was a big fan of theirs as a kid, but it was the late '80s, early '90s. I sort of had pieces of information from magazines, but also everything put out back then was just simply on the wrestling front, it was not on the personal front.
So, when I dove into starting to research and writing the script, it was getting beyond the sort of wrestling on the surface and getting into their lives and their personal details. So I think I learned everything making the film.
CP: I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit, but if your leading trio of Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, and Harris Dickinson were a wrestling trio or fraction, could you come up with a name for them?
SD: Oh God. Uh… I have no idea. I'm sorry. [laughs]. I've not slept enough to answer that question.
CP: I am curious about filming wrestling sequences because I've talked to people who've worked on other sports films, whether it's basketball or football, and those are all very fluid sports that are hard to choreograph. But you had the benefit of wrestling is already like a dance, right? But were there any challenges with filming those kind of sequences for a film?
SD: Yeah, I mean it's incredibly challenging because, first of all, the actors have to learn how to wrestle. With other sports, there's a chance [that] they've played them growing up, and in this case, no one's ever stepped into a ring before. So you're starting from scratch with all the actors.
And the other challenge is that I wanted them to wrestle full matches. There obviously are stunt doubles occasionally, but for the most part, the actors are doing wrestling entire matches and doing their own stunts. So we had to start from scratch and teach them how to do that and then choreograph with the camera and the camera being in the ring very close to them and having them in the ring with people who could help them not get hurt as well.
So, [it was a] very layered process.
CP: Well, if you were doing full-length matches, what would a typical day look like? Would you run through them x-amount of times per day?
SD: We would basically do like a match in a half-day and we would space them out because the guys would wrestle, [but] they couldn't wrestle three days in a row. You'd have to give them the day off in between. So we might wrestle a match in the morning, then shoot some non-wrestling scenes in the afternoon, do something else the next day, and then come back and do another match the next morning.
CP: How did the actors adjust to that? All of the big wrestling companies are on tour all the time, doing live shows, so their bodies are acclimated to that. But for an actor, I assume that they probably weren't used to that.
SD: It was really challenging. I mean, we got really lucky that these guys were naturals at wrestling and took to it really quickly. And we just took care of them every way we could.
We had great trainers. Chavo Guerrero Jr. was our sort of head wrestling coach and guided them through it and just took care of them.
I think the other thing [that helped was] the schedule. We would jump around [and] if we did too much wrestling, we might change some scenes around and give them a break. So we tried to stay really fluid in our approach.
CP: Another real-life wrestler that's been very involved in the project was MJF, and I'm curious how he first got involved and what he's like working with, because obviously his on-screen character is a very snide conniving villain, for the most part.
SD: Well he's the total opposite in real life. [laughs] Sorry, I don't want to burst the bubble.
But he's the best. He's just so generous and was just enthusiastic and came out and was a part of it and had great insight. Just a great addition to the team.
CP: I don't know when you filmed the movie, but obviously he's doing a lot with AEW at the moment, and he's probably on tour and traveling a lot. So was he able to be very hands on, or did you guys ever have to work around his schedule?
SD: No, he came to set when he wasn't in between matches and things. So he had days down and would come then. So it wasn't tricky.
CP: To my recollection, I can't think of many other professional wrestling films being made. And you can correct me if I'm wrong, but were there any films that you were able to look at before this going into it?
SD: I mean, I think The Wrestler is a good film, but I really looked more at boxing films.
Raging Bull is an obvious influence; Fat City is an amazing boxing film from the '70s, and I really looked more at those because what I wanted to portray was the brutality of the wrestling world and the physical toll it takes and even back then, you know, these guys would connect.
And so it was a slightly different world and I wanted to lean into that. So yeah, boxing was really more of the structure to follow.
CP: You obviously grew up with wrestling and it sounds like you were a big fan back then. So, if you could make a film about another classic wrestler, whether it's a family, a faction, whatever, do you have any names that come to mind?
SD: I mean, the person who's in the film is Ric Flair.
I've always been a fan of Ric Flair. I've sort of known about him, but it's like every time I hear about Ric Flair, I hear a different story and he has [had] the craziest life, so he definitely comes to mind.
CP: If you did a film about Ric Flair, would you have the same actor (Aaron Dean Eisenberg) playing the role?
SD: Yeah. I mean, he's amazing. Aaron was incredible.
The Iron Claw will be released on December 22.