Zac Efron Shows Off Muscles as Pro Wrestler Kevin Von Erich on Set of Movie 'The Iron Claw'

Zac Efron is working on a beefy new role.

The 35-year-old Greatest Beer Run Ever actor was photographed on the Louisiana set of his upcoming film The Iron Claw on Monday. Efron sported a noteworthy new hairdo as he stood shirtless with a towel around his waist while checking his phone.

In A24's Iron Claw, Efron plays pro wrestler Kevin Von Erich. The film is based on a true story and tracks the "rise and fall of the Von Erich family, a dynasty of wrestlers who made a huge impact on the sport from the 1960s to the present day," according to the studio.

Written and directed by Martha Marcy May Marlene filmmaker Sean Durkin, the film also stars Lily James, Maura Tierney, Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickinson.

Efron recently told Men's Health about bulking up for the part, explaining that he had a different approach this time than the training he did for the 2017 movie Baywatch. He said he "fell into a pretty bad depression, for a long time" after recovering from the rigorous training for that project.

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"That Baywatch look, I don't know if that's really attainable," he said. "There's just too little water in the skin. Like, it's fake; it looks CGI'd. And that required Lasix, powerful diuretics, to achieve. So I don't need to do that. I much prefer to have an extra, you know, 2 to 3 percent body fat."

Added Efron, "At one point, that was a dream of mine — what it would be like to not have to be in shape all the time? What if I just say, 'F--- it' and let myself go? So I tried it, and I was successful. And for all the reasons I thought it would be incredible, I was just miserable. My body would not feel healthy; I just didn't feel alive. I felt bogged down and slow."

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The actor's new approach features "a new awareness of injury" in his post-Baywatch life and a period of time during which he tore an ACL, dislocated a shoulder, broke his wrist, threw out his back and shattered his jaw — all of which but the latter injury were sustained during training, according to Men's Health.

"I enjoy pushing myself and really laying it all out, to the point where I kind of have to do it," he said. "Otherwise I don't feel like myself."