How Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickinson Became the Von Erichs Through Costume in 'The Iron Claw'

When Zac Efron stepped out in front of a massive crowd while filming a scene for "The Iron Claw," the reality of his scantily-clad wrestling regalia suddenly hit him.

"It was the very first time that I had to enter the Sportatorium in Kevin's full costume, which was just, frankly, a Speedo, or trunks, and there was this huge crowd," he recalled in a press conference. "I just remember, in that moment, thinking, 'How the hell did I end up here? What is going on? This is 'Magic Mike.''"

If you've ever seen a pro-wrestling match and the lack of clothing it requires, it makes Efron's initial shock understandable. In "The Iron Claw" — which comes out in theaters on Dec. 22 — he plays Kevin Von Erich, one of the brothers from the real-life Von Erich wrestling dynasty, a famous pro-wrestling family from the 1970s and '80s. Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson and Stanley Simons play Kevin's brothers, Kerry, David and Mike, respectively; Holt McCallany stars as Fritz, the family patriarch and veteran wrestler. (His legendary "iron claw" move gave the film its name.)

Their story is a tragic one: All of the brothers, except for Kevin, died, most of them by suicide. These untimely deaths prompted rumors of a Von Erich family curse — but the actual curse may have been toxic masculinity, pressure from an overbearing father and the negative effects of fame.

Costume designer Jennifer Starzyk ("Mindhunter," "Reminiscence," "Bill and Ted Face the Music") didn't know much about wrestling before she signed onto the film. Once she saw what the Von Erichs looked like, though, she was sold.

"It was the start of personality wrestling, but not yet the Hulk Hogan [era], so it's this fine line between a homemade robe and a lot of personality and pizzazz," she tells Fashionista.

The scope of the costume design could rival that of any other period film: With the multi-year time span, 20-odd wrestling match scenes (which included 150 background actors) and numerous non-wrestling ones, Starzyk's work was cut out for her. She enjoyed researching the famous family through documentaries like "Dark Side of the Ring and Heroes of World Class: The Story of the Von Erichs," books, YouTube clips and old photos so much, she "could barely sleep."

When Starzyk begins a project, she'll think about who the characters are, how much money they have and where they might shop. For the Von Erichs, it was traditional American department stores like Sears and Montgomery Ward.

"When I first met with Sean [Durkin, the director], I had broken it down to: Here's what they wore while wrestling and the color story there, and here's what they were at home when they're doing ranch chores, which was sometimes just shirtless and cut-off shorts or a bomber jacket with wrestling trunks," Starzyk recalls. "They kind of had their own thing because they were just brothers hanging around."

She also looked at the photographer Richard Avedon's "In the American West" photo series and Nicholas Nixon's "The Brown Sisters," and did a marathon watch of all 14 seasons of the soap opera "Dallas," to get a feel for the Texas-Americana vibe. ("I got so into 'Dallas,' I'd be like, 'Wait 'til you hear what happened to J.R.!'" she laughs.)

Even though they were close-knit brothers and good ol' boys on the family farm, the Von Erichs each had their own style signatures in the ring.

"Kerry was more of a rockstar, and Jeremy already has that hair naturally, so we'd just add a headband,” says Starzyk. "Kevin's more like the American jock, so I put him in neutrals. His robe was a hoodie. Then, David had that Western, Texas flair with snakeskin. Mike blended in on purpose — in real life, you'd see these pictures of the three brothers bulked up and in their wrestling trunks, then Mike would be in corduroys and a polo."

Even father Fritz had his own flair: "He always had a lot of chest showing. And he was so obsessed with the title belt, so I made sure his character always had these oversized Western belts that had sheriff stars on them. It was like his version of his title belt that he'd wear every day."

Overall, the costumes are a mix of vintage, rental pulls and custom pieces. There were a lot of graphic tees, many of them vintage and similar to the real ones the actually guys wore, like a Linda Ronstadt one and another that says, "Iowa is big cock country." (It appears in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it party scene where Kerry rips it in half before drinking from a beer keg.) As for who made the brothers' real-life wrestling ensembles, Starzyk got the answer from Kevin Von Erich himself at the film's premiere: He told her that female wrestling fans sewed the boys' robes. (Though, Doris, the Von Erichs' mother, was believed to have made the real-life version of the sweet "In Memory of David" robe that Kerry wears for his brother's tribute match.)

The Von Erichs' high-waisted wrestling trunks required some compromise between the cast and the costume department. "None of them really wanted to wear him as high as they did, so we picked a nice line between, where they would feel comfortable, but still looked period," says Starzyk. "Since the guys are different shapes and sizes, we had to customize them and make sure they fit their backs and rear ends, and that the front and sides looked correct. It was definitely a maneuver of math to make sure it all worked."

The trunks also called for some inventive sourcing from Starzyk's team. "It ended up being this elaborate, massive, made-to-order show," she says. "When we finally mapped it all out with the cast, the number of wrestlers, the wrestling scenes with stunts that needed multiples for sweat and blood, we needed to make 100 trunks and couldn't do that."

Since the trunks are made from heavy-duty spandex, they require a special machine. Assistant Costume Designer Aileen Abercrombie suggested asking a manufacturer to custom-build the trunks. For the vintage-style wrestling boots, with a specific toe and heel, Starzyk found a brand on Instagram, Aces Boots, that had already replicated the real-life Kerry's athletic footwear and ordered over 20 bespoke pairs. (Speaking of boots, she says the cowboy boots the boys wore out of the ring were a hit with the cast: "Jeremy would come into the truck and be like, 'Can I wear my white cowboy boots again?'")

Efron ended up having a total of 60 costume changes, as Kevin goes from the Von Erichs' heyday (wearing mesh shirts and cut-off denim shorts) to managing the family's wrestling company (donning button-down Western shirts and pleated khakis). Starzyk says this was a "turning point" for the character, as he goes from being "less of a brother and more of a father and husband." In the film's epic wedding scene, Kevin's wife Pam (Lily James) dons a perfectly '80s princess gown while doing a choreographed dance with the boys in their matching tuxedos. (According to Starzyk, Dickinson wanted to keep his but had to catch a flight before he could pack it in his suitcase.)

The most head-turning costume in the film, though, belonged to wrestling legend Ric Flair (played by Aaron Dean Eisenberg), known for his elaborate, feather-trimmed robes. Durkin let Starzyk pick which one to recreate, since they were all "amazing and iconic — you couldn't go wrong" She settled on a floor-length Pepto-pink robe with feathers and silver sequins. "It was a showpiece on its own," she says. "It's also that whole nuance of wrestling, where you have this wrestler dressed like Liberace, but his nickname is 'Nature Boy.' It doesn't make sense, but it makes it all much better."

Despite the dark themes of "The Iron Claw," Starzyk says everyone had a great time making it.

"Zac was so easy to work with. Harris was maybe taken aback at first, being British and all — I think he was like, 'What’s going on here?' And I'm like, 'Welcome to Texas in the '80s,'" she laughs. "But everybody was super open, and I think they all had a lot of fun."

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