DALLAS, Texas — The lights were bright in Oak Cliff as A24 Films held its world premiere of 'The Iron Claw' at the Texas Theatre on Wednesday night.
The venue is just seven minutes away from where the old Sportatorium once stood-- a place that made the Von Erich wrestling family famous worldwide.
The rise and fall of the Von Erichs is the centerpiece of 'The Iron Claw' -- the finisher move that Fritz Von Erich made so famous. The family took the globe by storm in the '80s -- wrestling on syndicated television via their promotion World Class Championship Wrestling.
But tragedy followed the family all through the decade and into the '90s. David Von Erich died of an intestinal rupture while wrestling in Japan and in '87, Mike Von Erich took his own life near Lake Lewisville.
In '91, Chris Von Erich took his own life, too, and in '93, Kerry Von Erich also killed himself.
That left Kevin Von Erich as the only one in the bloodline standing. In under a decade, he lost four brothers. The catastrophic loss pushed him away from Texas and to the state of Hawaii, where he lived for 18 years off the grid.
Von Erich is now living once again in Texas, talking more about his life experiences and pushing through tragedy to come out standing on the other side.
The Iron Claw hits theaters on Dec. 22 -- Zac Efron plays Kevin in the movie, and Jeremy Allen White plays Kerry.
Both were in Dallas Wednesday night, alongside Kevin, for the premiere.
"It's a true story," Efron said. "That gives you extra motivation to get in there and get it right. The physicality was very important -- Kevin Von Erich is one of the best to ever do it, so I put a lot of work in to make sure that I played him as honestly as possible."
"The training put me into the mindset," Efron continued. "Those days were hell, and I thought that this was how Kevin felt. It's a savage sport, and so much respect for the guys in wrestling."
Wrestling legend Chavo Guerrero got the actors in shape for the movie, he was also at the premiere. So was Trish Stratus.
"I'm not training them for WrestleMania, I'm training them for scenes," Guerrero said. "But I can't cheat it too much, this is still wrestling. They're falling on their own -- we're not using stunt doubles, so it was really cool to see them do it."
Jeremy Allen White is coming off a Golden Globe win for his work in 'The Bear' and said it didn't take him long to become enthralled in the Von Erich story.
"I was immediately fascinated," White said. "I read the script, and I thought that Sean Durkin (director) did a beautiful job understanding that world and the love these brothers had for one another."
Kevin Von Erich told WFAA that he approved of the film but that it was pretty hard on his father. Von Erich said his dad was strict, but he still loved him.
"You can see that Kevin loves his father in the film, and that the brothers loved each other, which was important for me," Von Erich said.