Zac Efron spoke about his ego during the filming of the wrestling biopic ‘The Iron Claw’.In a press conference, he talked about his attitude ‘The biggest injury‘ he faced while filming his latest project, ‘The Iron Claw,’ was ‘probably an ego one.’
Zac Efron said, “It was the very first time that I had to enter the Sportatorium in Kevin Von Erich’s full costume, which was just, frankly, a Speedo, or trunks.”
In a conversation with Ritz Carlton in Dallas, Texas, per People, Zac Efron said, “And everybody was out there, there was this huge crowd and the lights were on.”
He continued, “I just remember in that moment thinking, ‘How the hell did I end up here? What is going on? It was the very first time that I had to enter the Sportatorium in Kevin [Von Erich’s] full costume, which was just, frankly, a Speedo, or trunks.”
He ended with, “At that moment, I was frozen in time just going: ‘This is it. This is the end. How did you get here? What choices have you made?”
In a conversation with Entertainment Tonight, he said, “The physicality he brought to the ring every single day was really unique. It changed wrestling. I knew that was going to be the hardest [thing] for me to master and get right. So, I put everything I had into it.”
He also talked about Baywatch saying, “That was actually a really important time to do ‘Baywatch’ because I realized that when I was done with that movie, I don’t ever want to be in that good of shape again. Really. It was so hard.”
In an interview in 2020, he said, “You’re working with almost no wiggle room, right? You’ve got things like water under your skin that you’re worrying about, making your six-pack into a four-pack. S–t like that it’s just not … it’s just stupid.”
I’m telling you, I got very big and buff for that movie,” he said on an episode of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
He further said, “But I don’t want people to think that’s the best way to be. Be your size.”
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The Iron Claw Update
Updated August 2026. The Iron Claw opened December 22, 2023, and grossed over $45 million on a $15.9 million budget, with critics calling Efron’s performance as Kevin Von Erich the best of his career. Despite that reception, the film was completely shut out of the 2024 Oscar nominations, a snub that sparked lasting backlash from fans and critics who felt Efron deserved a Best Actor nod. It did pick up a National Board of Review nomination for Best Ensemble and a spot on that group’s top 10 films of the year. More than two years later, the wrestling biopic has found a second life as a steady streaming performer, with writers still revisiting its Oscar snub as one of the more debated omissions of that awards season.
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