I’ll Watch Jeremy Allen White and Zac Efron’s New Movie Solely Out of Love for Their Bromance

I can't stop looking at photos of this dynamic duo and reading every fawning comment they have to say about each other. As the adage goes, "Dudes rock..."

By Kylie Cheung | December 12, 2023 | 11:00pm

Celebrities

I’ll Watch Jeremy Allen White and Zac Efron’s New Movie Solely Out of Love for Their Bromance

Now this is how you do a press tour: Get two very, err, interesting-looking men to take some very interesting photos together and, in a series of joint interviews, panels, and public appearances, demonstrate their love for all the world to see. That, at least, seems to be Jeremy Allen White and Zac Efron’s strategy for promoting their new movie, The Iron Claw, an upcoming A24 film about the famous Von Erich wrestling family. Or something like that. I don’t really know what this movie is about, but suffice it to say, I will be watching it no matter what, if for no other reason than my new obsession with Efron and White’s tender bromance.

On Monday, White and Efron appear to have spent damn near the entire day together. First, White supported Efron by attending his Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony. The ceremony was also very emotional for me, personally, as Efron belted out “Go Wildcats” and admitted he still sings High School Musical tracks in the shower during his little speech. Then, at the Monday evening premiere of The Iron Claw in Los Angeles, White, who will play Efron’s on-screen brother in the movie, gushed nonstop about Efron—both his physical beauty and dazzling personality. (Why don’t my friends talk about me like this???)

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“He’s so annoying,” White told Variety, explaining that after he trained for months to get in shape for the movie, he “showed up,” saw Efron’s body, and thought, “What is this even for? Why do I even try?” As for Efron’s personality: “He was a great motivator as kind of the captain of this ship doing this thing,” White said. “He was a great motivator as kind of like his preparation physically. All the preparation he did emotionally and mentally. I look up to that guy.”

This comes after White told GQ last month that, immediately after signing onto the film, Efron immediately offered him essential, if not vaguely homoerotic, advice for preparing for the role. In the form of a “really lovely note,” White recalled that Efron told him to “get training, eat, keep doing what you’re doing, stay hard.”

As they say on the internet: Dudes rock…

And then, of course, in early November, Efron and White gave us this little number: a video of them putting their foreheads together, locking eyes, and getting real close, as Efron explains to the audience that “this is like a moment where you’re in control, you’re kind of pushing and pulling,” and reveals that “we spent, what, a whole hour just doing that?” White adds, “We spent a lot of time close.” Efron calls it “very intimate” and “very fun.” Move over Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi, there’s a new duo of bros who love to cuddle each other and happen to have a movie to promote. And they’ve got my attention…

According to early reviews, The Iron Claw is a very good or at least kind of good movie. (Efron, in particular, is already fueling award season talk, which would only be appropriate after being snubbed for his brilliant performance in High School Musical…) That’s great! I would have watched it even if it weren’t! Because what more could any of us ask for in a movie than co-stars who are a couple of dudes who love each other deeply, and aren’t afraid to look each other in the eye and say as much…