Nearly two years after A24 immortalized the wrestling family’s tragic story on the big screen in The Iron Claw, the Von Erichs are speaking up.
In an upcoming episode of Investigation Discovery‘s Hollywood Demons, airing Monday at 9pm, Lacey Von Erich criticized the Sean Durkin-helmed 2023 film for its “inaccurate” and “heart-wrenching” depiction of her father Kerry Von Erich (portrayed by Jeremy Allen White).
“My sister and I were not in the movie as my dad’s children and he didn’t have a wife or anything,” said Lacey, who is also a wrestler, in a preview. “And that was a really big part of my dad. So how he was portrayed in the movie is so inaccurate that it was heart-wrenching.”
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Although The Iron Claw addressed Kerry’s motorcycle crash that led to his foot being amputated, his abuse of painkillers and his death by suicide in 1993, his wife Catherine Murray and daughters Hollie and Lacey were not included in the film.
Kevin Von Erich, the last surviving wrestler brother who was portrayed by Zac Efron, added, “Kerry in the movie was not a family man, but in real life he was.”
Although Lacey said the family was not consulted about the movie, which they learned about on social media, Kevin noted that he “endorsed” Durkin’s film.
Based on a true story, The Iron Claw follows the rise and fall of the Von Erich family, a dynasty of wrestlers who made a huge impact on the sport from the 1960s to the present day. The film specifically hones in on the supposed “Von Erich curse,” which would see one Von Erich brother after another meet their untimely end, leaving just Kevin Von Erich left.
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