'The Iron Claw' director, writer Sean Durkin breaks down Zac Efron's powerful final scene

Chronicling the almost unbelievably tragic events in the lives of the professional wrestling Von Erich family, writer/director Sean Durkin's film The Iron Claw is powerful, evocative and completely riveting.

Where to watch The Iron Claw: Now in theatres
Director: Sean Durkin
Cast: Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, Stanley Simons, Holt McCallany, Lily James, Maura Tierney
Runtime: 132 minutes

Starring Zac Efron as Kevin Von Erich, Jeremy Allen White as Kerry Von Erich, Harris Dickinson as David Von Erich, and Stanley Simons as Mike Von Erich, these four actors playing brothers all have really impactful performances, but crafted in their own unique way.

This is absolutely the best we've seen of Efron throughout his entire career, and that's particularly evident in the final moments of The Iron Claw.

Spoilers for The Iron Claw included beyond this point

Breaking the curse

Kevin is very much the heart of the film. He, along with all of his brothers, are pushed to be the greatest pro wrestlers by their father Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany). But devastation just continues to strike this family.

As we see in the film, David dies while wrestling in Japan, due to ruptured intestines. Then Mike dies by suicide in the 1980s, and Kerry dies by suicide as well, six years later. That just leaves Kevin to sit in the reality of the "Von Erich Curse."

In the final moments of the movie Kevin, still married to his wife Pam (Lily James), is watching his two sons play football together, just like Kevin used to with his brothers.

Kevin starts crying and when his kids see him, they run over to comfort their dad, saying that everybody cries, which is the opposite of what Kevin learned from his own father. This culminates in a particularly sweet and emotional moment Kevin has with his sons, talking about brothers, before the three of them play football together on the lawn.

"I first looked at this story and saw this epic Greek tragedy, and saw the sort of rise and fall, and ... the thing that really stood out to me was that Kevin survived it," Durkin told Yahoo Canada about crafting that final moment. "I wanted to look at why and how Kevin survived it, and as I watched interview after interview, and got to understand who he was and how he created, with Pam, this beautiful family, and the fact that they were still together, it was like, how did he break that? How did he break that cycle?"

"What I realized was, it's emotion. He's just an open book, his heart is out, it's open. The way he talks, the way he can look at the painful stuff. So I figured that it was about, what's that moment where he changes. He's going to change the way things were done with his father, he's going to inherently father his sons differently and break the curse, so to speak."

'Everything on TV was so polished and cartoonish, ... but this was something different'

Aside from the more intimate and emotional moments of the story, Durkin created a really thrilling environment for the pro wrestling matches we see at the Texas Sportatorium in the movie.

In today's world, pro wrestling matches, like WrestleMania, are massive productions, but Durkin takes us back to really the beginnings of these televised events.

"I think it goes back to a part of why I was so drawn to them, at the core, which was just the way it felt in that room," Durkin said. "I discovered them in the late '80s and I was a kid in England, I was never going to get to Dallas to go to the Sportatorium."

"But there was a feeling that those events had that just felt local, not in a small way, local in a close way. Passionate, local and you could feel the texture, you could feel the cigarette smoke and the dirty floors, and the beer. ... I was nine years old and I was like, 'I wish I was in Texas staying up late on a Saturday to watch it.' ... I couldn't articulate this back then, but everything on TV was so polished and cartoonish, and I loved that, but this was something different and this was something really exciting. So I wanted to create that and I wanted to get back there, and get that energy and try to experience that."

'Fritz was very vocal and very on the record'

Durkin also had the task of developing his characters based on real people, which included a nuanced depiction of Fritz, as harsh as he comes across as a father.

When one of the first scenes we see with Fritz involves him openly ranking his children, it sets the tone for the kind of character we're going to see throughout this story.

As Durkin revealed, Fritz actually did say many of the things we hear the character say in the film.

"A lot of characters you have to fill in the gaps, you're never going to have access to Pam and Kevin's first date, you have to fictionalize that," Durkin explained. "But Fritz was very vocal and very on the record."

"I never judge any of my characters, whether they're cult leaders, or [other] people, ... because as a filmmaker, as a writer, I can't. When you write them you have to look at them from their perspective, and I did the same for Fritz. I think that Fritz operated from a place of love, even if what he's doing isn't always loving, I think he believes that it is. He believes that he is giving his family and his boys their best chance in the world, and I just had to sort of underline that, and that was behind everything."

This does also reflect themes in Durkin's previous projects, including The Nest and Martha Marcy May Marlene, specifically the evaluation of family, and breaking away from certain structures of ones family unit.

"I think it's really universal, I think it's something everybody can examine, if they want to, and I think it's something everybody experiences, on some level," Durkin said. "Why do we believe what we believe? Why are we living our lives the way we're living them?"

"I think when people live a certain way, they think it is fact and all it takes is going somewhere else to see it done differently, or living in a different house with a different family to see it done differently. I really like to just raise questions about how to shatter some of those ideas that we take as fact, but are not fact."

Brotherhood, friendship and love

While there are so many heartbreaking moment in The Iron Claw, Durkin found a particularly effective way to add levity to the story, including moments when these brothers are just enjoying spending time together, like when they all sneak out to go to a house party where Mike is singing with a band.

"I want it to really be about brotherhood and friendship," Durkin said. "Those moments of togetherness and being at parties, and also being in the ring together and working out together, it's fun, and that was a part of the draw to me."

"I was inspired by movies like Raging Bull and Deer Hunter, and also inspired by Dazed and Confused. I really felt like those hot Texas summers, those boys together at the height of their powers, felt really celebratory. ... I wanted to show that and show the tragedy, and really look at how Kevin pulls through all that ... and also has a beautiful relationship."

Durkin stressed that shooting scenes with Pam and Kevin, from when they first meet, to their wedding, to the when they're parents, were some of the "most fun" for him to film, because "it's so loving and light"

Defending pro wrestling to critics who label it as fake

Throughout pro wrestling's existence, there has been significant criticism that's it's "fake," due to its scripted nature, with many diminishing the relevance of the industry.

As a pro wrestling fan, Durkin's response to those critics is that "all entertainment is scripted."

"If you go see a play, the actors have their lines, it has been written, the outcome of events is planned, yet we go in the audience and we are moved emotionally, or we laugh, or we feel whatever it is," Durkin stressed. "Wrestling's the same."

"It's live entertainment. It takes you somewhere emotional and tells you a story, and we feel, and no one dismisses that. Same with a musician, a great musician can know songs and know their music, but it's the live performances, the energy, it's that unknown thing that happens when you perform live that connects to an audience that you can't always put into words. That's what great wrestling is too, it's how the performer connects to the audience and gets them feeling."