The Hollywood Hunk continues to bring his squared circle talents to the big screen. Ryan Nemeth, who has wrestled for both WWE and AEW and is currently a member of the TNA roster, has simultaneously worked as an actor throughout his wrestling career. Nemeth has made guest appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Tim Robinson’s I Think You Should Leave, and starred in this past December’s A24 hit The Iron Claw. As he actively pursues championship gold in TNA, Nemeth has wrapped production on his latest project, Stranglehold, a Coen Brothers-inspired comedy from actor-turned-filmmaker Clark Duke (Kick-Ass, Hot Tub Time Machine).
Speaking to ComicBook, Nemeth teased what’s in store for his new comedic thriller.
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“It’s about semi-organized crime, and not very well organized crime. It’s a small town kind of people deciding, ‘Hey, we’re going to pull a heist,’” Nemeth said. “They’re not experts on robbing anything or anything like that, and that’s where the humor comes in. We think we are defending the local strip club from a military attack. I would say the word gritty applies, and I think the similarity between Coen Brothers films like Fargo is probably a great example.”
Details surrounding Stranglehold are close to the vest, as even Nemeth’s character’s name remains unknown.
“It’s such a departure from what I usually do,” Nemeth teased. “We had a dialect coach helping us with the Arkansas accent, and we would just talk like that days on end. It never felt like I was doing a character. If you think you know Ryan Nemeth, this will be a shocker to you.”
While this film does not rope in Nemeth’s wrestling career as blatantly as The Iron Claw did, his in-ring muscle memory inadvertently assisted him when it came to some of Stranglehold‘s stunts.
“I did kind of a crazy little stunt on my last shot of shooting before I wrapped and it was a great feeling,” Nemeth said. “I didn’t know if I could do it, but I just said yes. That’s bred into me from wrestling.”
Joining Nemeth is an all-star ensemble that includes the likes of Ron Perlman, Justin Long, and Ashley Benson.
“I have an interaction with Ron Perman that if all goes well, and this depends on post-production, editing and all that, I think will go down as one of my favorite things I’ve done,” Nemeth noted.
Also in the ensemble is Chris Candy, the son of the late John Candy, who Nemeth believes plays the film’s standout character.
“I would love it to be me, but my guess is that the character Chris Candy plays will be,” Nemeth said. “That was kind of happening on set as we started shooting. You think you know how it’s going to play out, and then when the characters do start to come to life, you just go, ‘Oh my God, this is not what we expected,’ but in a great way.”
Stranglehold recently wrapped production and is currently without a release date.
