The old boy-next-door charms of Zac Efron are long gone, ever since the actor showed another side of himself by going shirtless, showcasing his chiseled body in many of his movies. However, the most radical transformation came in Baywatch, in which he played the role of a bodyguard. But now his Baywatch physique has a serious contender in the form of his role as the celebrated wrestler Kevin Von Erich.
Looking unrecognizable, even his co-star Jeremy Allen White felt small next to him, for whom transforming into the wrestler Kerry Von Erich was ‘physically impossible’.
Unlike Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White Found It Impossible To Bulk Up
The soon-to-be-released movie The Iron Claw is based on the real-life story of the insanely famous American family of professional wrestlers called the Von Erich family. Set in the 1960s, all but Kevin Von Erich (played by Zac Efron) survived, while others died a tragic death leading to the popularization of the ‘Von Erich curse’.
Jeremy Allen White, who portrays Kerry Von Erich, had a particularly hard time bulking up for the movie. Portraying the most famous member of the Von Erich clan, he had to gain almost 40 pounds. While talking at the premiere of the movie (via People), White remarked,
“I knew I couldn’t get as big as Kerry. I just don’t think it was physically possible for me. I’m a pretty little guy, but I tried. I don’t think it’s possible for any human on the planet.”
While he tried his best, stories of the late wrestler further intimidated him, and being around his co-star Zac Efron didn’t help but it sure was a motivator for him.
“I didn’t want to stand near Zac. I saw him and I went, ‘Can Harris [Dickinson] stand next to him?’ No, I mean, Zac looked so amazing and I think, yeah, just being around him was a motivator for me to eat more, train more.”
As for Efron, he revealed that training for this movie made their ‘real’ lives non-existent.
Zac Efron On Training For The Iron Claw
Zac Efron is known for his extreme dedication to his roles, a glimpse of which can be seen in the on-set pictures of The Iron Claw. The actor had to really bulk up, eat loads of calories, and do strength training in preparation for the role of Kevin Von Erich. However, the real toll was on his and his co-star’s outside life as he remarked while talking at the premiere (via People),
“I knew that going into it, physically relating to Kevin or being able to get into that shape, to do that, you have to become kind of obsessed. It takes over your life. That’s all you’re doing is eating, sleeping, training and wrestling. That’s what they were doing in real life. [In] the prep for this movie, we all started hanging out in the ring, but really our lives outside of that were kind of nonexistent, and that that really helped me figure out Kevin’s mindset.”
Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White’s extreme transformation can be seen in theatres on 22 December 2023.
