Zac Efron may have proved he was bigger than High School Musical in films like Me and Orson Welles, Beach Bum, and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile, to name a few. But audiences and critics all agreed Efron gave a “heartbreaking” performance playing Kevin Von Erich in The Iron Claw. If anyone knows about what great wrestling looks like, take it from professional wrestler and actor John Cena who had plenty to say about his Ricky Stanicky co-star’s performance in the biopic.
John Cena and Zac Efron may have looked hysterical in Ricky Stanicky, but they both know how to give dramatic performances on-screen too. Efron really had to give it his all in his A24 movie The Iron Claw playing a real-life wrestler going through the tragedy of losing each of his brothers during different moments of his life. The two Ricky Stanicky co-stars spoke to ET about their Amazon Prime movie, but not without Cena giving praise for the The Greatest Showman actor’s performance in the sports biopic.
It was a real good treat to be able to go to the premiere of Iron Claw and see Zac do his thing -- especially from a lens that I'm familiar with. He did an excellent job.
He truly did. It’s a real compliment to hear from a wrestler that Zac Efron embodied the head of the Von Erich legacy well. And John Cena isn’t the only one in the wrestling community to send his praises. The real Kevin Von Erich was impressed with Efron portraying him knowing “it’s not easy to be me” and calling the talented actor “a real star.” Even WWE fans weren’t happy that the Summerland actor was snubbed from an Academy Award nomination. I have to admit, I felt the same way as I was sure Efron would have been a shoo-in. But, I know he’ll get his chance one day.
Hearing John Cena give praises to Zac Efron’s Iron Claw performance was a real treat for the Walk of Fame star. Efron made sure to express that Cena’s words meant “everything” to him.
There's something special about when John's like, 'I know what you went through for that.' Not many people get it, so it's nice. It's pretty epic.
An epic performance deserves epic words of encouragement, that’s for sure. Other than watching Zac Efron’s authentic-looking wrestling scenes, the on-screen moment that got to me the most was the emotional final Iron Claw scene. This was when Kevin had a heart-to-heart with his two young boys about his sadness about not being a brother anymore. It was a moment hanging in the balance throughout the whole movie being raised by a father who taught him not to show emotion. Director Sean Durkin said his male lead gave it everything he had in seven takes, saving up all of his character’s suppressed emotions for that one important scene. It was a truly memorable moment teaching audiences the strong power of family.
John Cena made sure to tell Zac Efron how truly impressed he was with his critically acclaimed performance in The Iron Claw. As for if we’ll see the two in the ring for real, Cena gave a hard “no” to ET believing he’d talk Efron into doing Wrestlemania! On the other hand, the former Wildcat did say he’d be open to making a WWE celebrity appearance.
You can watch the comedy duo together in the 2024 movie release of Ricky Stanicky available on your Amazon Prime subscription.
