Having already garnered a dedicated fanbase for his 11-season portrayal of Lip Gallagher on Showtime’s Shameless, actor Jeremy Allen White was launched even higher into the pop culture zeitgeist with FX’s stress-taurant dramedy The Bear, whose second season will soon will soon be available to stream with a Hulu subscription. The subject of food is also tied into his upcoming pro wrestler biopic alongside Zac Efron, A24’s The Iron Claw, though not in a way that sounds very appetizing, as it relates to some overabundant dietary patterns that aren’t always to his liking.
One of the key details we know about The Iron Claw is that White will be portraying the late, great Texas Tornado himself, Kerry Von Erich. While the Shameless vet certainly isn’t a slouch, he wasn’t at that physical level when signing on, and the process of building up his frame meant a lot of potentially regrettable meal choices on a daily basis. Speaking with Esquire, he confirmed that the engorging process ahead of filming got “gross” at times, which sounds like it would have made every other part of the preparation process that much more miserable. In his words:
Yes, eating all the time. Like, never stopping. In the morning, I would have waffles, almond butter. In the middle of the day, I was eating turkey patties and avocado all the time. It's really just gross. You're trying to consume as much as you possibly can, and, to be honest, you don't feel great. I was training as well, but, I don't know, trying to get that big, it's no way to live.
I can’t be the only one picturing him chomping from a bare turkey patty held in one hand, as his other hand is ready to squeeze half an avocado into his mouth to wash the protein down. I know this isn’t the case, but it’s more fun to think about in this context.
So basically, in order to get into the athletic shape that Dwayne Johnson was in as WWE’s The Rock to play a wrestler in a movie, Jeremy Allen White had to take on a more subdued version of the massively caloric diet Johnson packs in to stay in shape to play gargantuan-muscled movie characters. It’s a weird circle of life going on there, or maybe more of an egg-shaped circle of life, with White then cracking the egg and downing the yolk.
It doesn't sound like Zac Efron is open about having his own issues with bulking up in such ways, as White said the Baywatch actor is in full-on beast mode all the time.
Zac's a maniac. He's so focused and knowledgeable on training, diet, all that. In terms of a physical transformation, I think he kind of blew us all out of the water. He looks really amazing in this thing.
Of course, being in films like the aforementioned Baywatch, in which he co-starred with the aforementioned Dwayne Johnson, likely helped Efron test and perfect the best ways to transform himself physically, via diet and training, so that it isn't just a total slog every time it happens. If Jeremy Allen White ends up landing the titular role in James Gunn's Superman, you can bet he'd similarly evolve all aspects of the bulking-up process that he went through for The Iron Claw.
For his role in the Von Erich family's biopic drama, Zac Efron had to get a bowl haircut to mimic that of wrestling legend Kevin Von Erich, who spoke well of Efron. Co-star Lily James said the big ol' muscles topped the dorky-looking 'do by way of being a distraction during scenes. So even though fans have joked about him looking like Shrek's villain, his efforts have paid off, and will hopefully serve as something of an inspiration to White as his career goes forward. Even if it's just for him to say, "I don't wanna do any of that again if it means eating this large turkey patty by hand without anything but this other fistful of avocado."
Directed by Martha Marcy May Marlene helmer Scott Durkin, The Iron Claw is set to release at some point later in the 2023 movie release schedule.
