Aaron Dean Eisenberg Defends His Performance as Ric Flair in The Iron Claw

While most have praised A24’s The Iron Claw, it has drawn criticism for the performance of Aaron Dean Eisenberg, who played Ric Flair. Wrestling fans expressed their dislike with Eisenberg’s portrayal, with several claiming its the worst part of the film. In an interview with Man Cave Chronicles (via Fightful), Eisenberg defended his performance and spoke about the online reaction to it. Here are highlights:

On the reactions to his performance: “It’s been interesting. I feel Flair is definitely an idol for some people, so they really hold him in high regard and sort of expect a certain thing for him. I’ve gotten a lot of love, but also a lot of hate, which is very new for me. It’s certainly a polarizing performance.”

On the script and how he approached the role: “When I read the script, my first thought was, ‘this is a hell of a lot of work for not a ton on the page. I’m going to have to put on a lot of weight in a short amount of time, and I’m going to have to study a lot for not that much.’ I did some research on Flair, I watched a bunch of his promos, and I jumped on the phone with Sean. I said, ‘I know this is your baby. You’ve been trying to get this made for ten years. Feel free to tell me to fuck off, but I have an idea that would make this role feel more worthwhile.’ ‘What is it?’ I’ve watched a bunch of this guy’s promos, maybe we could throw a promo in there.’ He was open to the idea. I gathered a bunch of links, I sent him a bunch of links to late 70s, early 80s promos, and he fell in love with it. He ended up incorporating that into the film. It’s cool because he added other promos to the film. My first initial thought, which I stuck with and Sean agreed with, we weren’t going to go for an impersonation. I just felt like there was so much out there on the internet impersonating him in a really great way. It didn’t feel like a mimicry of him would fit into that moment of the film and into that world of the film. My approach was, how do I get down this guy’s essence and his energy and understand him and what he’s doing, in and out of the ring? Just figure out his energy and reasons for things. Stay away from doing any kind of impression. A lot of it, for me, was about the stakes for the Von Erichs because of their relationship to their father and what it meant to the family to get this belt. It felt like the stakes were so high for them, that my take on it became a more serious thing than Flair was in real life. It was a darker take on him.”

On how he feels about his work: “I’m really proud of it. I worked really really really hard. At the end of the day, I’m an artist. A lot of the times, good artists are polarizing and divisive. It’s certainly new. Some of it is funny. It doesn’t make me doubt myself or change my opinion of what I did, but it saddens me that they are upset. You want to honor the wrestling fans. Of course you want them to be happy about it. At the end of the day, I wouldn’t change what I did. I wouldn’t change it. I stand behind it. I love what I did. I’ll say this to the wrestling fans. I hear you. I’m sorry it’s not an impersonation. I’m sorry that you didn’t like what I did. I stand behind what I did. I respect the hell out of Flair. All I wanted to do was honor the dude. I’m sorry I missed the mark for you, but I stand behind what I did.”