Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2023: Holt McCallany & Harris Dickinson in The Iron Claw

Holt McCallany did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Fritz Von Erich nor did Harris Dickinson for portraying David Von Erich in The Iron Claw.

You have probably the two sides of the coin of the von Erich family in the performances of Holt McCallany and Harrison Dickinson. Holt McCallany feels very much a classical style character actor who just is oozing with said character from his every pour that just casting him adds a little something because of that. He seems an ideal fit therefore for a wrestler who presented himself as a heel for the going public even going so far with his gimmick as to evoke Nazi imagery as part of it. Which is what we open with as we see Fritz using the Iron claw to a roaring crowd, with McCallany entirely owning the presence of the wrestler heel with all the possible manic intensity. This is immediately contrasted though to a relatively quiet manner as we see him joining his family after the match where McCallany creates a natural complexity to the character. The man does seem to love his family as he embraces them after the match, but just as much there is a strange thing as he notes he got a more expensive care without telling his wife, to act like a champion before being one. McCallany's delivery of this is key because he speaks with it as the "correct" act on his part without hesitation or reservation, despite seeming to be a major decision, and this will not be the first time we see such a manner from the man. As we flash forward to his extended family including Kevin (Zac Efron), David, Mike (Stanley Simons) and Kerry (Jeremy Allen White). Where one of the first acts is to hassle Mike for not doing exactly what he is saying, as McCallany's particular pressure in his delivery, because it actually isn't loud, but it is powerful. His voice is one of control in his "encouragement", and most especially a complete lack of shame as he orders his sons in order of favor. McCallany's work is unbelievably cruel because of the ease in which he rattles off the list, it isn't a joke, it's rather delivered what's worse it is a man thinking it is motivation.

Dickinson I think provides the essential contrast to McCallany in the early scenes of the film. Dickinson already is proving himself to be a low key chameleon as an actor, just becoming one with the role whether it be the more dynamic John Paul Getty III in Trust, a insecure though posh model from Triangle of Sadness or also in 2023 as a working class Englishman in Scrapper. Dickinson so far is whatever you need him to be and it is with such ease that he plays the part that is the most impressive. His Texas accent here, but even so his particular casual manner just makes him seem ideal as David, to the point you don't think twice about it. Dickinson's performance as much as he just is the role, he's so much more than that here as he brings the ease in his performance that is the opposite of his father. Dickinson brings such a warmth to his performance but a warmth that is just a given. There's no force in his performance, there's just a relaxed approachable nature about him. There's something especially wonderful because you just sense the chemistry he has with Efron, Simons and eventually White without really any aggressive effort. He just has it, and doesn't need more of it. Dickinson in every scene makes an impact by being the man who just seems like he's loving living his way and being around his brothers. His lines of genuine encouragement or just goofing around with his brother, Dickinson's performance makes you just more relaxed with him around. It is hard to not like David because Dickinson has such effortless charisma. Something that extends in the ring where Dickinson's great because what he gives off more than anything in the fights initially, is a man just having a blast, so it is hard not to have it with him.

McCallany and Dickinson in many of the family scenes then have a conflicting chemistry, even though the two never butt heads. But rather we see that in the way each of them approach every moment so differently. Even in David's first fight, McCallany shows Fritz watches with pride but also an extreme intensity as they go about it, where David's just having fun going off into it. The outdoor family meal scene exemplifies this more where McCallany is terrific in his own charisma, though so very specific if not dictatorial. There is genuine charm there, when his wife brings up his unexpected background in playing clarinet, McCallany's reaction shows real love there as the thoughts of the memory of their meeting glimpses on his face. But when any of his sons say something remotely out of his specifics, such as daring to comment on the wrestling camera angles rather than the wrestling, the coldness of McCallany pierces through because there's no hesitation or even slight easing at it, he will bluntly state his opinion every time. The way McCallany dominates is perhaps best illustrated when he tells former near Olympian Kerry to also join wrestling, McCallany comes in really as the coach speech, he speaks with belief, he speaks even with hardship as not the ideal path, but he also speaks as a command. Not a command of a man who is blaring it to his son, he doesn't need to, rather it is with the authority of the man who always believes himself to be right and in the right without exception.

Where McCallany and Dickinson though are similarly great in the same way is in the delivery of the wrestling promo. Dickinson knows exactly how to bring the right boisterous ridiculousness that is fashioned in the right kind absurd style that is of this over the top heroic overtures particularly his perfect way of saying "delivering the Iron Claw To You" with all the proper face glory. McCallany, not to be outshone in this regard is also going in hard with a far more heelish type of intensity, though again still with the same over the top ridiculousness but convincing in its entirely strange way. With particularly his way of saying "the greatest family in the history of wrestling" being all the most extreme over the top gusto, that is also just kind of perfect. In turn also making David take the position, Kevin expected to have, as the favorite to go furthest in wrestling. Where we see the true insidious cruelty of Fritz as he declares his choice with no words of comfort to his other son, just as whenever they make a mistake, Fritz only speaks as if it was a mistake with no positive urging but rather with that dismissive by McCallany that is so insidious in its cruelty. We see what is sewn with this after Kevin gets married just before David's world champion fight. A scene where Dickinson is just incredible, where he calmly depicts the physical exhaustion of the man as someone trying to cover it up but still exuding it even within the facade. More importantly is the beautiful loving warmth in his eyes and every word towards Kevin, as you see him just projecting the purest of love as he hears Kevin is having a child. Dickinson makes himself the glue of the family, making it unbelievably cruel then when David dies off screen, and we feel that loss because of what Dickinson delivered up until that point. From here on is where we also see what makes Fritz even worse than you might've guessed, as McCallany delivers the news of David's death as bluntly as anything else, and his insistence of his remaining sons not show "any tears" is hideous in the way McCallany makes it it merely the extension of the man's mental tyranny. McCallany does indicate that he does care, but so constricted in this and is his perspective that he leaves no opportunity for actual change. The way that McCallany's performance remains very nearly consistent through the further tragedies, realizes the greatest cruelty of the man, who is so firm in his standard, in his belief, that even as nearly his entire family is ripped from him for his ways, there is no honest reflection for really even a moment. And while this may seem less dynamic, although McCallany, just let's off a hint more grief and kind of seeming just slightly lost after the final death, what McCallany's work so effectively serves its purpose in creating a specific portrait of callousness that isn't based on becoming worse, rather it is his depiction of fittingly an iron heart that is so prepared for tragedy that he is not worn by it, but he also never learns from it.