Note: The following article contains discussion of themes including suicide.
The Iron Claw tells the true story of the Von Erich family, who, unless you were a wrestling fan in the 1980s, might be entirely new to you.
As Fritz Von Erich (played by Holt McCallany) attempted to build a wrestling dynasty with his sons, including Kevin (Zac Efron) and Kerry (Jeremy Allen White), the family endured unimaginable loss that they put down to the Von Erich family "curse".
While it might seem hard to believe, The Iron Claw is largely true to the tragic story of the Von Erich family. But what might be even harder to believe is that the movie could have been even more harrowing had it not made a couple of major changes.
But to go into what The Iron Claw left out, we need to go into spoilers for the movie, so look away now if you're avoiding everything and haven't seen the movie yet.
The Iron Claw true story
As well as following the Von Erichs' rise to the top of the wrestling game, The Iron Claw documents the tragic death of every Von Erich son bar Kevin.
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David died in a hotel room in Japan in February 1987 before he was due to fight Ric Flair in a championship bout. Mike overdosed on sleeping pills in April 1987 and then Kerry, having lost a foot following a motorcycle accident, shot himself in February 1993.
We see all of this play out in the movie, but there was another brother, Chris, who also took his own life in September 1991. The movie leaves out Chris entirely, which writer-director Sean Durkin told Vulture was "the hardest decision I made".
"The movie just couldn't withstand another brother's death. It's hard to say this from a human level but from a narrative and character standpoint, there's a repetition that's just hard to take," he explained.
"Mike, Kerry, and Chris all suffered similar fates: They took a gun or a bottle of pills into a field on their ranch and killed themselves overnight. I don't want to say it was stopping the movie from happening but if I'm honest, it was. It took me a year to write it and take him out."
Incredibly, this isn't the only Von Erich tragedy that Durkin left out of The Iron Claw.
In March 1959, Fritz Von Erich's first-born son, Jack Jr, suffered an accidental electric shock after touching a live wire when he was six years old. He fell face first into a puddle and drowned.
"It was such a life-changing moment, not only for the parents but also for all the other kids – even the ones who weren't born yet – to live in that shadow," Durkin told Vanity Fair, which is why the movie does make a brief reference to the loss of Jack Jr.
Before he suddenly died in Japan, David Von Erich also suffered his own loss when his daughter Natosha died in December 1978 from sudden infant death syndrome when she was only 13 weeks old.
Durkin added to Vulture that these omissions were a result of attempting to keep the focus on Kevin Von Erich's story and his "survival".
"Everything has to be about Kevin's journey. You make tough choices. Which means that you don't depict David being a father who loses a 1-year-old child. That's a tough choice to make when, on a human level, you feel connected," he noted.
"You feel responsible for how you're depicting this family. But there is just not room for that in this story."
As well as omitting details from the true story, Durkin adds a more fantastical moment towards the end of The Iron Claw.
After Kerry's death, we see him reuniting with his brothers at the age that they died, including Jack Jr.
While this was entirely fictional, of course, Durkin revealed to Vanity Fair that after watching the movie, Kevin told him that he used to imagine a similar scene when talking to his mother Doris to comfort her:
"It was moving. What they told me was that it's brought them together, and I think it's been quite cathartic."
The Iron Claw is out now in cinemas.
We encourage anyone who identifies with the topics raised in this article to reach out. Information about how to access support is available via the NHS, and organisations who can offer help include Samaritans on 116 123 or Mind on 0300 123 3393.
Readers in the US are encouraged to visit mentalhealth.gov or the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
