“The Iron Claw”: Read the script by Sean Durkin, who struggles with Von Erich’s tragic family history

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series, which highlights the year’s most talked about screenplays, continues The Iron Clawwhich tells the story of the struggling Von Erich family in two hours.

It starts with Fritz von Erich (Holt McAllany), who had problems in the 1960s. When they were old enough, Fritz brought his sons Kevin (Zac Efron) and David (Harris Dickinson) into the ring and eventually trained Mike (Stanley Simons) as well. Kerry (Jeremy Allen White) only turned to wrestling after his 1980 Olympic hopes were thwarted by the American boycott.

The A24 film is named after Von Erichs signature move, but as with any biopic, consolidating the subject’s life requires craftsmanship. In the case of the Von Erich family, this meant that the film only had four brothers. The youngest brother, Chris Von Erich, who committed suicide at the age of 21, is not there.

However, writer-director Sean Durkin does not shy away from family tragedies. David died of a ruptured intestine, possibly caused by wrestling injuries. Mike and Kerry both died by suicide, Mike after two years of toxic shock from surgery for a wrestling injury, and Kerry after years of addiction to painkillers following surgery from a motorcycle accident.

Kevin believed the family was cursed, and the film shows him distancing himself from his wife (Lily James) and their newborn baby. Durkin had no contact with the Von Erich family prior to production, although Kevin Efron said after a screening that he liked the film.

Durkin followed the Von Erich family as a wrestling fan during his childhood. During a screening and question-and-answer session in Los Angeles, Durkin said he had to control all the details he wanted to include in telling her story on stage.

“I’m obsessing over the details and trying to get to the point where people have to tell me to calm down about the wrestling details because I’m just going away,” Durkin said. “I can give you a wrestling timeline of each of the guys over 10 years. I try to distance myself from it and say: Okay, it’s not important to the story. These similarities are important to the story. This game is a mix of these two games. There is a mixture of historical truth in them, but they also fit the story.”

Click below to read Durkin’s script.