The Iron Claw, directed and written by Sean Durkin and produced by A24, will see the retelling of the tragic Von Erich pro wrestling family. So far two of the brothers have already been cast for the film with Zac Efron playing Kevin while Harris Dickinson (Where The Crawdads Sing) will portray David. Deadline reported on Thursday that Jeremy Allen White, best known for his starring role in the FX critically acclaimed series The Bear, will play Kerry Von Erich.ย
Kevin is the only surviving member of his generation of the Von Erichs, while David (aka “The Yellow Rose of Texas”) died in 1984 in Tokyo. His official sauce of death was acute enteritis, though there was plenty of speculation from wrestlers at the time that it was a drug overdose. It was David’s tragic passing that led to the NWA holding a tribute show in May 1984 in which Kerry defeated Ric Flair to become the NWA World Heavyweight Champion.ย
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Kerry was the only one of his brothers to eventually make it to the WWF, signing with them in 1990 and wrestling under the name Texas Tornado. He would go on to win the Intercontinental Championship and win a match at WrestleMania VII but was gone from the company by August 1992. He died by suicide in February 1993 at the age of 33 and was survived by his ex-wife Catherine Murray and their two daughters. One of them, Lacey, would go on to be a wrestler for TNA (Impact Wrestling).ย
Numerous members of the Von Erich family were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009, including Fritz, Kevin, David, Kerry, Mike and Chris. Kevin’s two sons, Ross and Marshall, are currently a tag team in MLW.
The film’s synopsis reads, “Based on the true story of the Von Erichs, the film follows the rise and fall of the family dynasty of wrestlers who made a huge impact on the sport from the 1960s to the present day.”
