Jeremy Allen White Says There Was 'One Rule' 'The Iron Claw' Had To Follow

By Andrew Sanford | Film | December 20, 2023 |

By Andrew Sanford | Film | December 20, 2023 |

I don’t get to talk about pro wrestling that often on this site. When given the opportunity, I’ll jump on it like Kerry Von Erich launching from the top rope! I love professional wrestling. I have since I was younger when my older brother got me into it. I’m also a firm believer that it gets a bad rap. People who make it to the top of the wrestling world work their asses off (most of the time). The odds are against them the whole way. Like anything else, when wrestling is bad, it is bad, but when it’s good, it’s great.

Things like The Wrestler and G.L.O.W. got people to think about wrestling in a way they wouldn’t normally. They show the hard work and the ups and the downs. There’s struggle and strife. Again, a lot of art and careers have these aspects to them. It’s just that people usually don’t take wrestling seriously. I get it! Especially when you look at some of its sillier roots. So I’m grateful for The Wrestler and G.L.O.W. and think that The Iron Claw is about to have a similar effect.

The film tells the story of the Von Erich family. The Von Erichs were wrestling royalty, and without getting into spoilers, their tale is tragic with a capital T. While tragedy was part of their story, there was also love, something Kevin Von Erich wanted to make sure was evident in the film. Jeremy Allen White, who plays Kevin’s brother Kerry in the film, said Kevin “asked to make sure that it was clear how much he loved his brothers and how much they loved one another.”

I love wrestling and have a strained relationship with one of my two brothers right now. It’s a new development that has put a damper on the holidays and life in general. He’s the brother who got me into wrestling. I would love to watch this movie with him or, at the very least, talk to him after he’s seen it. That’s not going to happen, unfortunately. It’s coming from a biased place, but this movie is going to wreck me.