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Movie enthusiasts have confessed to feeling extremely nauseous after watching a Zac Efron film that is based on true events.
While many of us might wish that High School Musical was a true story, that’s not the film in question.
Efron has taken on roles in a few movies based on real-life events. Following his haunting portrayal of the serial killer Ted Bundy, he shifted gears to the sports world by playing wrestler Kevin Von Erich.
Alongside Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, Holt McCallany, Maura Tierney, and Lily James, the film narrates the story of the Von Erich family and the close-knit brothers who made their mark in professional wrestling in the early 1980s.
Although it may initially seem like a feel-good sports movie, the real-life events surrounding the Von Erich family are heartbreakingly tragic, leading some to speculate about a possible ‘curse’ on the family.
The family endured numerous losses, injuries, mental health challenges, and deaths. These events posed a challenge for director Sean Durkin, who found it difficult to encompass all the tragedy in the film, titled The Iron Claw.
In an interview with UNILAD, Durkin explained: “There’s just so much tragedy in this family that didn’t make it into the film, because it just couldn’t fit.
“It’s hard on a human level to leave all that stuff out. Because it was so impactful to them and their story, but you have to make really tough choices so that it can even be a movie.”
The final product, available for streaming on Max, is both gripping and heartrending. It has garnered a remarkable 94 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, although it has also left viewers struggling to process its intense content.
One viewer wrote after watching the film, “Finally watched The Iron Claw last night and now I’m just supposed to go to work like nothing happened.”
Another commented, “Cried so hard during the last 20 minutes of that movie that I almost threw up. It was viola davis level.”
This viewer wasn’t alone in feeling queasy, with another adding, “I literally wanted to throw up I couldn’t take anymore sadness.”
Efron himself acknowledged that he found certain scenes difficult to get through while filming, particularly one moment toward the end of the movie that caused him to ‘lose it’.
“I thought I’d ruined the take at that point but I decided to stay in it and when we finished … I looked up at Shaun, I was about to apologise and he was like ‘no, that’s it’,” Efron recalled.
While the movie may not be an easy watch, it is undoubtedly worth experiencing.