Sean Durkin Explains Decision To Cut Chris Von Erich Story From ‘The Iron Claw’

“The Iron Claw” explores the tragedy of the Von Erich family, a family destined for wrestling stardom before addiction and pain became too much to overcome. 

David, Kerry, Mike, and Chris Von Erich all died in tragic ways, and three of those deaths are touched upon in “The Iron Claw.” Chris’ story is left out of the film, which director and writer Sean Durkin said was one of the toughest calls he had to make. 

“It’s really difficult. I’ve never had a more difficult decision to make as a writer. I care so deeply, so it was painful. But you have to make tough decisions and you have to do what’s best to get the film made. I wrote this script for seven years and Chris was in it for a long time. So there was a point where it became clear that if you separate yourself from the emotional connection to the family and to real life, you have to separate and say, okay, well, this is a movie, these are characters, and the movie just cannot withstand another death at that point in the movie,” Durkin said to Mike Ryan of Uproxx. 

“It became that simple, which is so difficult from a human level, and that was what you grapple with. But from a storytelling perspective, it was right because the film, it wasn’t about just the grief. It wasn’t about the loss. It’s about the absence of grief and the resurrection and how Kevin gets through it. Also, just the nature of their deaths were very similar – all three brothers who committed suicide. So Chris made it into the film in the sense that the character of Mike is a combination of Mike and Chris in some ways.”

Durkin said he was worried about Kevin’s reaction to Chris’ story not being part of the film, but when he explained things, Kevin said it made sense. 

Kevin was on Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite alongside Ross & Marshall Von Erich. Ross & Marshall will be in action at ROH Final Battle and AEW Rampage. 

“The Iron Claw” will be in theaters on December.