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Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White and Stanley Simons are playing the famous Von Erich brothers in “Iron Claw.”
“Extra’s” Terri Seymour spoke with the guys about their physical transformations and how they bonded by getting in the ring together.
Zac bulked up like you’ve never seen him before. Calling it “fun,” Zac said, “I had six or seven months to prep for the movie, and I allowed it to take over my life. It became my priority goal… I guess that was the fun part, a singular goal.”
Efron noted that one of the more difficult aspects” of playing his character Kevin was “his physicality.”
Jeremy also opened up about the “extreme” training he went through to gain 40 lbs. for the role. He said, “I was focused on really trying to put on size, so it was really eating consistently and lifting heavy weights all the time, and the way I like to exercise, [same] as Jeremy, is kind of running and calisthenics and stuff like that and jumping rope, so I stopped that kind of thing and started to lift and eat as much as I could.”
As for Stanley, he didn’t have to get as big as Zac and Jeremy. He quipped, “I was eating a lot and working out, but these guys were going hard. I tried, but I don’t think I could get to that degree.”
Along with gaining muscle, the guys had to be able to pull off some high-flying maneuvers that the real-life wrestling stars were known for.
Zac commented, “We just got thrown in the ring together… hitting each other, bouncing off the ropes, and doing stunts, and there was no better way to break down any barriers or to get to know each other than just wrestling.”
Jeremy chimed in, “Some serious trust building right off the bat, a shorthand to sorta intimacy and understanding from the ring work we did.”
When the guys weren’t wrestling, they were pranking each other!
While filming a scene together, Stanley sang a song from Zac’s iconic movie “High School Musical.” Stanley recalled, “I learned ‘Breaking Free’ the night before, the chords for it, and I just sang it to Zac. We were just messing around. That party scene was just a lot of fun to shoot, and I think it showed in the film.”
Zac added, “I remember in that moment you started singing that song, I kinda got into it and I was like stoked that it was happening, but I looked around the room and realized there were a lot of people looking at me and laughing and I was like, ‘Let’s go!’ I was singing along, too. It was so fun.”
“The Iron Claw” is out December 22.