Since making his AEW debut in January 2021, Ryan Nemeth has referred to himself as the “Hollywood Hunk,” and that nickname takes on new meaning this weekend. Nemeth stars in The Iron Claw, an A24-produced biopic about the legendary Von Erich wrestling family. This isn’t the usual wrestling-to-acting leap that in-ring competitors have made over the years, as Nemeth has actually been acting in various projects over the past decade, including an appearance in hit sketch comedy show I Think You Should Leave. While his wrestling background certainly didn’t hurt during The Iron Claw casting process, Nemeth actually landed his role of Gino Hernandez through a traditional audition.
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“For me, it was just another audition I had that I did and forgot about it,” Nemeth said. “Then I got a message going, ‘Hey, we’re offering you this role, would you like it?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, oh dude, nice. Cool. Yeah, let’s do that.’”
As both a full-time actor and full-time wrestler, Nemeth is constantly weaving auditions into his weekly schedule.
“My girlfriend was in Atlanta filming Gotham Knights, so I would go back and forth and stay with her for a week or two at a time. I think while I was visiting, I got the self-tape for The Iron Claw and I felt bad. This is supposed to be our time to hang out,” Nemeth recalled. “‘Hey, can we film an audition here real fast?’ She of course is a lifetime actor. She has the self tape set up ready to go. I felt great about it.”
And just as his audition came through during a week away, Nemeth’s offer arrived while he was en route to his other full-time commitment.
“I think I was flying to or from an AEW event. I always get the Wi-Fi, but you can’t get phone calls on a flight. My manager kept texting. I saw all these emails and texts just suddenly pop up when I got online,” Nemeth remembered. “‘Where are you? I’ve been trying to call you. We need to confirm this. A24 to send an offer.’ And I was like, ‘A24? Oh yeah, dude, Iron Claw, hell yeah!’”
Nemeth plays Gino Hernandez in the film, a standout of the 1970s and 1980s wrestling scene. Hernandez held NWA gold on over 20 occasions, including tag title reigns with WWE Hall of Famers Bruiser Brody, Jimmy Snuka, and Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
“I remember once I got that in-flight offer to play Gino, I went so hard into just studying any bit of footage I could find on him,” Nemeth said. “[Watching] interviews, promos, matches on any flight to and from an AEW show. Every morning when I woke up and every night before bed, I would just type in Gino Hernandez versus and watch just whatever popped up. I started doing little Gino mannerisms in some of my matches leading up to that just because I want to just have it in my mind, in my body.”
Once his pre-production research wrapped, Nemeth reported to set. As one of just a select few real-life wrestlers on The Iron Claw, Nemeth wanted to strongly tow the line of sharing his in-ring expertise without overstepping.
“I was a little nervous. I felt like I’m going to be competent here, but I don’t know how receptive the main cast will be. I’m not going to come up in big league people, but of course I would be very helpful and all that,” Nemeth said. “I walked into the gym and there’s a giant TV flat screen that was playing Von Erich tag team matches. I don’t know what exact match was on, but right in front of it was just in full gym gear and wrestling shoes was Zac Efron just watching it, his arms folded, rewinding and watching.”
Those fears of big leaguing were squashed by Efron and Durkin themselves, who specifically came to Nemeth for input on numerous scenes.
“We ran it a few times and then Sean and Zac came over to me and they go, ‘Ryan, how would this go? This is a backstage locker room. How would you guys do this?’ I froze for a second, and then I realized they were really asking me and I was tiptoeing,” Nemeth said. “Then I thought, well, they want the answer, and I just said what would really happen. Then Zac was like, ‘Okay, let’s do that.’ That’s pretty cool. I am not a main character here, but they were just like, ‘You literally are a wrestler. How would you talk in this?’
“That happened a lot in the ring too. It’s tricky because there’s the main cast members and each of them has a stunt double. I did not have a stunt double, so I was doing all the stunts on my end. Most of my physical stuff in-ring was with Harris Dickinson, who along with Zac, was extremely natural in the ring and very athletically gifted. You couldn’t cast a better main cast of Von Erich brothers. These guys really took it seriously.”
That helping hand mentality continued in scenes that Nemeth wasn’t involved in on-screen.
“Any day that I wasn’t working literally as Gino in the ring and filming shots of that tag match, I would still go to the ring if they had matches,” Nemeth recalled. “I just wanted to be helpful and involved. I contributed a lot off-camera during some of the matches. After I left I remember feeling like, alright, whether my stuff stays in the movie or not, some stuff that I touched will definitely be in the movie.”
This led to Nemeth working alongside Chavo Guerrero Jr. throughout the process. Chavo, a multi-decade wrestling veteran, has been the go-to guy for wrestling projects in Hollywood. The former WWE Cruiserweight Champion had helped spearhead the stunts department in Netflix’s GLOW and NBC’s Young Rock before leading the wrestling training in The Iron Claw.
“I would message [Chavo] and go, ‘Hey, can I come help today?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, it’s going to be real hard. It’d be really great if you can come,’” Nemeth added. “What else am I going to do? Tour the city? I just want to be involved in this awesome freaking movie.”
All of that extra effort didn’t go unnoticed either.
“The head stunts guy messaged me and goes, ‘Hey, we’re going to give you a stunts credit. You were so helpful in consulting and helping all that.’ Hell yeah. ‘Mom! Guess what!’” Nemeth said. “The day that we wrapped Gino’s in ring stuff, Sean pulled me aside and goes, ‘You brought Gino Hernandez to this film.’ I got the goosebumps and the teary eyes. That is all I want. That’s what I’ve been trying to do for months. But of course I was like, ‘Okay, thank you. Yep. Cool. Glad to be part of it,’ but inside I was exploding with pride.”
The Iron Claw is now in theaters nationwide.
