When you're at the movie theater watching "The Iron Claw" starting Friday, keep an eye out for the guys in the band and the announcer in the ring.
The former is Baton Rouge band LVVRS (there's a girl in the band, too) and the latter is local radio personality Scott Innes.
All got a taste of Hollywood South in late 2022 when the biographical sports drama "The Iron Claw" was shot in Baton Rouge.
'The Iron Claw' stars, from left, Harrison Dickinson, Zac Efron, Stanley Simons and Jeremy Allen White.
The A24 film stars Zac Efron as Kevin Von Erich and Jeremy Allen White ("The Bear") as Kerry Von Erich, brothers and professional wrestlers. The movie is based on the real-life Von Erich family of professional wrestlers who rose to fame amid misfortune in the early 1980s. The family was plagued by several tragedies that became known as the “Von Erich curse.”
Also featured in the movie are Harris Dickinson as David Von Erich, Holt McCallany as Fritz Von Erich, Maura Tierney as the family’s matriarch Doris and Lily James as Kevin’s wife Pam.
Efron, 36, who got his big break as a teen heartthrob in Disney's "High School Musical" franchise of TV films in the 2000s, has also starred in "The Greatest Showman," "Baywatch" and "Neighbors," among others.
Both Efron and White bulked up to portray the wrestling siblings, with White saying he gained 40 pounds of muscle for the role.
Sean Durkin (“Martha Marcy May Marlene”) wrote and directed the film, with an estimated budget of $20,400,000.
Members of Baton Rouge band LVVRS surround Stanley Simons as Mike Von Erich in a scene from 'The Iron Claw.'
We're with the band
River Gibson, vocalist/guitarist for pop/rockers LVVRS, chalks up the band landing "The Iron Claw" gig to a little serendipity.
"It's really a cool story. One day, I was doing some work a little late at the coffee shop and some folks (casting agents) came in and they were talking about a movie they were filming," Gibson said. "I just kind of struck up a conversation with them, got to talking and I said, 'Well, I'm in a band and some of us have some background acting experience and stuff.'"
Gibson gave them his number and two or three weeks later, they called.
"They said, 'The movie we're doing is actually 'The Iron Claw' and there's a few scenes where we need a band to play,'" he recalled.
Gibson explained that in the film, Fritz Von Erich, the father, wants all his sons to go into wrestling, but one son, Mike, is sort of the oddball out.
"He doesn't want to do that (wrestling). He writes music and enjoys music. So in the movie, we're like his friends and bandmates," Gibson said. "There's a scene where Zac Efron (Kevin Von Erich) is picking him up from band practice. So we're all in the garage rehearsing at that time.
Members of the band LVVRS record their own version of a song they performed in 'The Iron Claw.' That single is due out soon.
"And then the other scene is a really big scene in the show. And we're basically playing at a house party with the brother. And all the brothers are there kind of talking about him and how that's what he's supposed to be doing. So it's a big moment in the show for his character," Gibson said.
The musician said he and his bandmates — Edward Pricipato, Lillian Giacona and Brenon Wilson — show up in a couple of scenes totaling four minutes or so. Shooting took place at a home in eastern Baton Rouge and another house near the LSU campus, he said.
The band walked the red carpet at the film's world premiere last month in Dallas, rubbing elbows with Efron, White and the rest of the cast.
"The movie is absolutely incredible. It was just an honor to be a part of something so special like that," he said.
The song LVVRS sings live in the film is written by Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry. Wanting to make it their own, the band recently went into the studio and cut a cover of the song, done in their style. The plan is to release that single sometime after the movie opens in theaters.
The band, formed on Valentine's Day 2018 (thus the name), will release its first independent, five-song EP in January.
Local actor Scott Innes, left, hangs out with Zac Efron during filming for 'The Iron Claw' in Baton Rouge.
"We went about a month ago and did some showcases in Nashville, and we're headed back up in January. We'll be performing for record labels and such to try to take that next step. So that's kind of where we are right now," he said.
In this corner …
When Innes' agent, Cindy Hill, approached him about auditioning for "The Iron Claw's" ring announcer, he was initially skeptical.
"I had a lot going on. I was like, you know, they're probably gonna have, you know, their Hollywood people come in and do this," Innes said.
After some coaxing from friend and actress Anna Watt, Innes said he agreed to audition, but he was only going to read it once.
Scott Innes stops for a photo with wife Cindy on the red carpet for 'The Iron Claw' premiere in Dallas last month.
"I said, 'They're going to know the minute they hear my voice, because this certain (kind of) wrestling, they look for a certain sound," he recalled. "And I know that sound because I grew up with it. I wasn't worried about getting the part. I didn't think I'd get the part. I just laid it down. And before I could get back to Baton Rouge, a couple hours later, Cindy Hill called me and said, 'Yep, they want you.' And I thought, wow, that's crazy.'"
Innes' voice is well-known in Baton Rouge for his morning radio shift on Classic Hits 103.3 and, on a larger scale, for having voiced iconic cartoon characters Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo since 1998.
All of his "Iron Claw" scenes were shot inside an old furniture store building turned wrestling arena on Florida Boulevard.
"It was really cool because originally they didn't have me down for as many lines, but Sean Durkin, the director, said that he loved what I did, so they wrote more scenes in there for me to voice. I'm excited about it," Innes said.
But, for Innes, there was also a flip side to getting more dialog.
"I don't memorize lines very well. I just freak out, you know?," he admitted. "… I'm sitting there going, 'Oh my God, Scott, you're gonna have to get this down.' And so he (Durkin) comes up to me and he says, 'Look, we're kind of winging this a little bit, so we don't pretend to know everything about wrestling. So if you know something that you could bring to the table with your character, please share.'
Scott Innes plays the ring announcer in 'The Iron Claw.'
"And I immediately said, 'Well, you know, back in the '70s and early '80s, the announcers held cue cards because that's what they cheated off of. And he goes, 'Brilliant.' He goes, 'Now, hey, now, there you go. You don't even have to memorize the lines. You can just read 'em on the card.' So I was like, 'Thank you, Jesus,'" Innes said.
The actor ranks his "The Iron Claw" role right up there with being the voice of Scrappy-Doo in 2002's "Scooby-Doo," a live-action movie earning $200 million at the box office (the biggest movie of that summer). Equally iconic is the Von Erich family, who started wrestling, and their tragic story.
"I mean, they are the grand, they are the founder of really what we know wrestling as today in the popularity," Innes said. "So, to be a part of two of those iconic storylines is just great."
Describing this year as a whirlwind, Innes said he's also voiced the new "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" pinball machine, recorded a syndicated TV show with the Bellamy Brothers and voiced an Egyptian mummy-type character in a film called "Shakespeare's Mummy."
"And then of course, we've got our own (indie) project I wrote and produced with Anna Watt called 'Bad Habit.' It's a murder mystery we shot in St. Francisville," he said. "So we're in the process of editing that movie. And every weekend, I'm in the car driving to different cities to do comic-cons (in his 'Scooby-Doo' capacity)."
Innes and his wife Cindy also attended "The Iron Claw" premiere in Dallas.
"That was great. I mean, when you're walking a red carpet with Zac Efron and all these people, and it was just first-class and the movie was great. Soundtrack was great. Everything was just great," he said.
But could there be a trip to the Oscars red carpet on Innes' horizon?
"They're talking that this could be a sleeper Academy Award nominee," Innes said. "So, I mean, you got Jeremy Allen White, Zac, just so many other people, Harris Dickinson. And there's just so many big names that are in this thing."
