-Our first guest tonight
is an Emmy-nominated actor you know from shows
like "Shameless" and "The Bear." He stars in "The Iron Claw," which is in theaters
December 22nd. Let's take a look. [ Indistinct shouting ] [ "Tom Sawyer" plays ] ♪♪ -[ Grunting ] ♪♪ -♪ What you say
about his company ♪ ♪ Is what you say about... ♪ -Please welcome back to the show
Jeremy Allen White! [ Cheers and applause ] [ Up-tempo music plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ So happy you're back. -I'm happy to be back.
Thank you, man. -You know, I'm a huge fan
of the "Bear" soundtrack, but this movie has some
real early '80s bangers in it. -Some good needle drop.
-Some real good needle drops. It was a -- I mean, for me,
this was great because it was an era where
that music means a lot to me. And that was when,
you know, as a kid, I was into this wrestling world.
-Were you? -I was, but I think
maybe a little after the story
of these Von Erichs, which is this is
sort of late '70s, early '80s. This is a real-life
wrestling family. -Yes.
-Did you know anything about them before?
-I knew nothing, I had such, like,
peripheral knowledge of professional wrestling.
I had some friends into it when I was young.
I never got into it. So my introduction
to professional wrestling was through the Von Erichs,
yeah. -And then
your other introduction is, you had to become
a Kerry Von Erich. So your first introduction
to this person is, they showed you a picture.
-Sean, the director said, "Hey, I want you to do this
movie about these brothers, these wrestlers, really --"
-I was like, "Amazing. I love this.
Let's talk about it." He was like, "Okay,
I want you to play Kerry." So I was like, "Alright,
I'll Google 'Kerry Von Erich.'" And I did.
-And then this came up. [ Laughter ] -It's a large man.
-Yeah. -I mean, people can
get in shape for roles, but -- -I can get in shape for a role.
-But people can't get taller. -No. I can't, uh...
[ Laughter ] I told Sean
I can try to act that big." -Yeah.
-"But I don't know if I can act,
you know, two feet taller, 200 pounds more."
You know, it would be... -You have your own words.
I read an interview. You described yourself
as a short king. -No, no, no, no, no, no.
Not my own words. -Not your own words?
Whose words? -This is very embarrassing
for me. I would not call myself that.
-Okay. -Cam, the journalist said --
or I was talking about Kerry, and I was like,
"He's a large man. I'm not a large man." And Cam, the journalist,
who I love, was like, "No,
you're a short king." -Gotcha.
-And I went, "S-Sure." -Yeah.
-And that was it. -But before I went
into your dressing room, everybody said, "Remember,
call him Short King." -Right. Which you did.
Thank you. -So, you might not
have said it first. -I don't want to say it,
but I do want everybody else to say it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. -You did, obviously --
And I mean, I think anybody
who's seen clips of it, obviously, Zac Efron
has transformed his body. You guys did put the time in.
And then you have to, obviously, become
believable wrestlers. -Correct. -How much time
was spent training? -Not not enough -- for me,
at least, I think. Um, but let's see,
we had about two months to exercise and eat a lot
and try to get bigger. And then we shot the film
in Baton Rouge in Louisiana, and we got there maybe
three weeks early and worked with this
really amazing wrestler, Chavo Guerrero. Um, and he took us
through the steps. It was kind of like
a crash course in wrestling.
And like learning any skill, at a certain point,
you kind of just have to, like, jump and hope and pray.
-I feel like you've just been through this
because, obviously, in "The Bear,"
you're playing a chef. There's a lot of chefs who are
going to have opinions about it and are going to
appreciate authenticity and call you out if it's not.
-Sure. -I would imagine
wrestling is the same, if not more so.
Have you received feedback yet from people
in the world of wrestling? -I haven't -- I haven't heard
a lot of opinions yet. And so I'm assuming
that's a good thing if nobody's, like,
yelling at me. -In the modern era,
if people have negative opinions,
they will find you. -They'll find you
and let it be known. Um, no. But, yeah,
you're absolutely right. I mean, I think the fans
for professional wrestling, the story of the Von Erichs,
these guys, like, I wasn't
familiar with them. But I think, like,
all of the big guys today and in the past decades
were just, like, massive fans of the Von Erichs. And I think
they really inspired, like, all the guys
doing it today. -It's also, you know --
it is a really moving film. Uh, it's a wonderful film
about family, but it's a true life. The story is incredibly tragic
about these brothers. And, you know,
Kevin, who Zac plays. -Yeah.
-I know he was involved. And obviously
there are other Von Erichs who are still with us. Was sharing the film with them
and having their hands in it -- that must have been
a very important piece of it. -That was major, yeah. Kevin Von Erich
is still with us, and he wasn't
incredibly involved in the process of filming, but he did give Sean Durkin,
our director, his blessing. Um, and all he asked
was to make sure that it was clear
how much he loved his brothers and how much they loved
one another. Um, "As long as you do that,
I'll enjoy the film," you know? And I think Sean
delivered on that. And it was something that Zac
and Harris and Stanley and I, who play all the brothers
were aware of through the process
of making it. Like, "If we can just, like,
forge this bond and make it feel
true and honest, um,
then we've done a good job." -I thought you really did. I thought that part of it,
the sibling-affection part of it came through clear.
-Yeah. -You, again, didn't strike me
as a lot of CGI in this film, that when you were
jumping off the top rope, that's you jumping off
the top rope. -That's all of us.
-I imagine, like, you think, "I could
jump off the top rope," then you get up there
and I imagine it looks a little bit higher
than you thought. -Yeah. It's frightening.
It's really frightening. But I guess, yeah, like I said,
it's like anything. It was the same thing
with cooking for me. You know, I didn't feel like
I was particularly good at that. But at a certain point,
you kind of just have to, um -- you have to jump and hope.
And we had we had really amazing guys,
like, real wrestlers that we were training with
and shooting with, like the guys in that clip
who played the Freebirds. Um, and they protected us.
You know? They made us look good.
-It's true. Like, ultimately, you have to,
in both "The Bear" and this, I mean,
you have to be confident. Like, if you're on the top rope,
you can't be like, [Whimpering] -Exactly, exactly. And if you're holding
a very sharp knife... -Yeah, cutting a carrot.
"The Bear" would be so bad if every time you cut a carrot,
you're like, "Aah!" -Yeah, exactly, yeah.
[ Laughter ] -I have a bunch of questions
about "The Bear." We're going to be right back
with Jeremy after this.
