How Kevin Von Erich Responded To The Iron Claw Leaving Out 1 Brother

Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Iron Claw.

The Iron Claw writer and director Sean Durkin shares what Kevin Von Erich’s reaction was to learning that the film leaves out one brother. Released in December through A24, Durkin’s new film tells the real-life story of the Von Erich brothers, who became professional wrestlers in the 1980s. Starring Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, and Harris Dickinson, among others, The Iron Claw dramatizes many elements of the tragic true Von Erich story, but there are some notable omissions. One such omission is brother Chris Von Erich, who took his own life in 1991.

In a recent interview with Uproxx, Durkin now reveals how Kevin, who is played in the film by Efron, reacted to The Iron Claw leaving out Chris entirely. According to the director, the last surviving Von Erich brother understood the reasoning behind the decision and was supportive. Check out Durkin’s full comment below:

“So it’s funny, one of the reasons I didn’t reach out to Kevin too soon was because I knew I had to make difficult decisions. Coming into it as a fan, I love the guy. So I didn’t want to meet him and love him even more, which is what would’ve happened, because you need to keep some distance and you need to do what’s best for the film.

“So I didn’t reach out to him until I knew what film I was making. At that point, I had made the decision about Chris, and there was other stuff, too. David had a daughter that died. Kerry had a family. There’s a lot of things that we had to take out to fit it into telling a story in a film.

“So I started talking to Kevin when we were in prep and had an ongoing conversation while we were shooting and told him about the story, told him what we were focusing on, and we had a really good communication. Then, finally, the week before showing him the movie, we did a big family Zoom.

“I’d talked to a lot of them individually, but it was like me and their whole family got together and we Zoomed. I wanted to tell them, okay, these are some of the hardest decisions I made, and this is why. I told him about Chris. And just immediately, Kevin was like, ‘That makes sense.’

“I think how Kevin feels is Kevin survived and he hoped that this movie was going to be about the love of brothers and survival. The message that he lives by is that no matter what, even on your darkest day, you keep fighting, life is worth it. That’s what he talks about a lot. I think he just hoped the movie would be that.

“So when I told him about Chris and some of the other cuts, he was just totally supportive. He was like, ‘Yeah, absolutely, it seems like the right choice,’ which was a huge relief because I spent a really long time fretting that conversation.”

Did Sean Durkin Make The Right Iron Claw Story Decisions?

Adapting any real-life story will always involve making difficult choices in terms of what to show on-screen. The Iron Claw‘s true story is a big part of the film’s appeal, and the Von Erich family saga, and all the tragedy it involves, is well-known to those who follow wrestling. Despite the risks involved in adapting such a sensitive story, however, it appears that Durkin’s decisions have mostly been the right ones.

The Iron Claw‘s reviews are largely positive, with the film’s Rotten Tomatoes score currently holding strong at 89% and its Metacritic score at a 73. The response from general moviegoers has seemingly been even warmer, with the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes audience score sitting at 93% and the Metacritic user score at 8.6 (out of 10).

The positive response to The Iron Claw has evidently helped the film at the box office, where it has so far amassed a respectable $18.2 million. While the movie hasn’t yet made back its $20 million budget, which doesn’t include marketing costs, it’s only been in theaters for about two weeks, and its total will only continue to climb. Durkin was evidently faced with a number of challenging decisions when adapting the story of the Von Erich brothers, but The Iron Claw‘s reception proves his storytelling instincts right.