Awkward! Having Their Bodies Shaved Was First Step for 'Iron Claw' Hunks

When they arrived for wardrobe fittings for the new film "The Iron Claw," Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickinson were strangers.

Then they went under the blade.

"Our bodies had to be completely shaved," White told Variety at a reception for the film at NeueHouse Hollywood on Monday in Los Angeles. "We were strangers at the time. Now I know them and love them, but at the time, it was like, 'Hi, nice to meet you and yes, they're shaving off all of our body hair.'"

"They shaved everything," Dickinson said. White added, "It was incredible but we also looked ridiculous."

"Directed by Sean Durkin, the film tells the real-life story of the Von Erich brothers, Kevin (Efron), Kerry (White), David (Dickinson) and Mike (Stanley Simons), one of wrestling's most famous families that suffered an enormous amount of personal tragedy," Variety said.

The actors then had to fit into the "itsy-bitsy 1980s" wrestling costumes. "It was always smaller, always shorter. It was never: 'Cover up their skin,'" White remembered. "I don't think any of us were confident in those first fittings. We were like, 'We have a lot of work to do.'"

In the film the three actors play the Von Erich brothers with Efron playing Kevin. White plays his brother Kerry and Dickinson plays Dave. The three came to fame in the 1980s in Texas, largely due to a wrestling move called The Iron Claw they used.

"But even as they rose to international fame, the family struggled both in and outside of the ring," Entertainment Weekly reported. "Five of the Von Erich brothers (all except Kevin) died young, succumbing to health issues, tragic accidents, or suicide. The back-to-back deaths sparked rumors of a family curse – a cautionary tale of how sometimes success can exact a brutal price."

"It just doesn't seem like this could all happen to one family," Efron told EW. "There's a huge element of the movie that's, of course, about wrestling and the showmanship aspect. But really, at its core, this movie's an incredible story about family, love, loss, and ultimately the triumph of a man who tries to break the cycle of this crazy curse."

"It's like a Greek tragedy or a Shakespearean tale," Dickinson added. "And it's all true."