Harris Dickinson: “My Goal Was Just to be Kicked in the Head by John Cena”

In the new A24 drama The Iron Claw, British actor Harris Dickinson plays David Von Erich, a member of the famed Texan pro wrestling clan whose lives were marred by operatic tragedy. Led by their unrelenting, tough-as-nails father, Fritz (Holt McCallany), brothers Kevin (Zac Efron), Kerry (Jeremy Allen White), Mike (Stanley Simons), and David are pushed to their limits in the singular pursuit of wrestling dominance. David, aided by his natural penchant for showmanship, quickly rises to the top—before dying suddenly at 25, a loss that goes on to have deeper repercussions for his family.

Dickinson, 27, has made a name for himself in recent years for portraying all sorts of flavors of performative masculinity on film—in The Iron Claw, as a male model in 2022’s Triangle of Sadness, or as a Brooklyn tough in 2017’s Beach Rats. Is there any overlap? “Wrestlers are rock stars, man,” he says. “They're pretty cool in what they get to do. They're proper showmen. I don't know if I can say the same thing about male models.”

GQ: What appealed to you about playing David Von Erich?

Harrison Dickinson: I loved [director Sean Durkin’s] work and he came to me. I read the script and immediately was excited and intimidated by it because of the subject and playing someone real. Obviously, the story of the Von Erichs is incredibly complex and mythological and tragic. And I love wrestling, and I grew up watching wrestling, so I was into this world.

I was curious about that, because I’d read that even though Durkin grew up in England, he was a superfan of American pro wrestling. I was wondering if you had been exposed in the same way.

I grew up watching the WWE and the WWF. We had it televised on certain networks. And they came to London a couple of times and I went with my friend who was also really into it as a 12-year-old. I felt like my goal at a certain time in life was just to be kicked in the head by John Cena or clotheslined by Rey Mysterio. It was a very, very simple goal for me as a kid.

So how did you prep to play David, physically and otherwise?

There's a big responsibility when you play someone real. I tried to get my dialect right. I worked with a coach on that and some movement stuff, and then tried to put on a bit of muscle, which was tricky because I didn't have very long. And then we got set and wrestled.

I spent a lot of time listening to him and trying to keep him close to me. I know that sounds a bit pretentious and actor-y, but there was so much material on the brothers—and David in particular, because he was really good at promos and he spoke a lot and he had a great sort of persona.

One thing that comes across in the film is how naturally suited he is to the promo and the showmanship, in a way that maybe his other brothers necessarily weren’t. Did you get a sense of where that came from?

I think he just had a natural confidence about him. He was the biggest out of all of them—he was 6 foot 6. And he was a good wrestler and he was athletic, but he wasn't caught up in being ripped or the pretty boy. He was very much just comfortable in his skin. There was just a sort of natural ease that I think was evident, and that carried across through his wrestling and his promo.

Was there anything really surprising you learned about him through your research?

I guess I was surprised at how young they were. He was 25 when he passed away, and I think they did so much in such a limited time. Same with Kevin, same with Kerry. They rose to prominence in the wrestling world in such a fast way.

You and Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White have a great, natural dynamic in the film—what did you all bond over?

I think we were bonded by a shared embarrassment about getting in the ring and wearing hot pants and feeling a little insecure and silly. I think we also just got really lucky. We got along really well and we felt comfortable in one another's presence and we supported each other. Learning to wrestle with one another is very sort of exposing, and I think we just felt we all wanted to do a good job.

Based on interviews I’ve seen, Efron seems to have taken the elder brother role seriously. What was the best advice he gave you?

We had a group chat, and he would just send these really uplifting messages. At the end of the day when everyone's knackered, he would always just message and be like, "You guys did so good today. Proud of you. Love you." Just such sweet, easy stuff. But it does make a difference because you'd feel like, "Ah, yeah, all right. He sees us."

You mentioned the hot pants briefly, but David really has his own, specific, over-the-top style. He has his cowboy hat, and his wrestling outfits were the most elaborate. Did you get a sense of how he landed on that?

He was the Yellow Rose of Texas, that was his nickname. I think he was a southern boy through and through and loved the attire, and leaned into it. He just enjoyed it. And I think our amazing costume designer, Jen [Starzyk], really wanted to stay true to that. A lot of the costumes you see in the film are direct copies from what they actually wore.

David was the first Von Erich son to die in adulthood, but by the time Fritz Von Erich died, five out of six of his sons had predeceased him. When you were doing your research, did you get the sense that he felt remorse over that?

I like to believe in the humanity and remorse in everyone, the fact that there's always some sort of reason for their actions and hope for their actions. I don't know the [real-life] situation enough to speak on it, really. But I think that certainly in the film, Sean really tries to encapsulate what that means: to neglect emotion and neglect discussion around emotion.

It also seemed like, despite him pitting his sons against each other, they weren't that competitive.

Yeah, they were really supportive of each other, even when they felt undercut or against each other through their dad's efforts. Despite the comparisons, there was so much love between them. Kevin Von Erich, who's still alive, spoke about that with Sean. He was like, "It's important how much we loved each other." And the love was so present there. Despite the competition and despite the sort of hardships, there's still just so much support when one of them gets some level of success. It's nice to see, and it's nice to know that that was actually the truth.

Did you get to meet Kevin? Or even Ric Flair, who’s your rival in the film?

No, I've never met Ric. I'd love to meet Ric, I've heard he's a character. But Kevin was at the premiere in Dallas, and that was really sweet. It was really lovely to meet him. Just the nicest man, and he has come through all that he's dealt with in such a beautiful way. I think he loved the film a lot. He said he felt like he'd seen his brothers again and he felt like he'd been very close to the story, which is obviously the best kind of compliment you can get.

Last year, you were in Triangle of Sadness, playing a male model. Did you see any overlap between the worlds of male modeling and pro wrestling?

Maybe the idea that you're just this sort of small cog in a bigger machine and you're just a part of a wider cycle of people. But wrestlers are rock stars, man. They're pretty cool in what they get to do. They're proper showmen. I don't know if I can say the same thing about male models.

You’ve also written your own movie that you're about to direct. What’s that about?

Yes, yes. We're shooting in May in London. We've got an amazing actor called Frank Dillane attached as the lead, and we hope to have that out sometime 2025. So, I'm excited to direct that, yeah. It's about a young rough sleeper trying to re-assimilate into society.

Besides that, what are you watching right now?

The film that stayed with me is Passages with Ben Wishaw, Franz Rogowski, Adèle Exarchopoulos. I loved that so much. I really loved the TV series Beef earlier this year. Obviously, The Bear—my boy Jeremy, shout out. I feel like I have to pull up my Letterboxd. Should I give you my quick Letterboxd?

Oh yeah, please. Is it public?

No, it's not public. I loved Anatomy of a Fall. Dream Scenario was fun. May December. Yeah. That's enough shoutouts.

Originally Appeared on GQ