Chavo Guerrero Jr. Talks Turning The Iron Claw Actors Into Wrestlers

In an interview with Wrestling Inc to promote The Iron Claw movie where he was the wrestling coordinators, Chavo Guerrero discussed getting the cast ready for the in-ring scenes.

Zac Efron plays the role of Kevin Von Erich, Jeremy Allen White plays Kerry, Harris Dickinson plays David, Holt McCallany plays Fritz Von Erich, and Maura Tierney portrays Doris Von Erich. The rest of the cast includes Aaron Dean Eisenberg as Ric Flair, AEW’s MJF as Lance Von Erich, and Kevin Anton as Harley Race. Here are the highlights:

On adapting to the actors: “Anytime I get an actor in the ring, it’s different. A good teacher always adapts their teaching to their student. These aren’t my students — I’m training them to look like wrestlers in wrestling scenes. These are actors, these are grown men that A24 and Sean Durkin are trusting me to train them and be safe.”

On preparing them the right way: “It’s not like I have to get them motivated and say, ‘Come on guys, let’s get in the ring. Let’s stop talking,'” he explained. “No, these guys are ready to work. They’re here for a reason. That really made my job a lot easier. And every one of them surprised me every single day. Every time we’d get in the ring, they’d be doing something different that I didn’t know that they could do.”

On each actor having their own approach: “Jeremy Allen White would almost sit in the corner for a second and kind of visualize it and visualize and visualize,” Guerrero said. “And he’d be like, ‘Okay, I’m ready.’ Zac? I would walk through things with Zac [and he’d be like] ‘Okay, let’s do this.’ Everybody’s different how they do it, but they all get the job done. And if you see the movie, these guys are amazing and they look like they’re pro wrestlers.”