Actor Holt McCallany Reveals His Training Journey For The Iron Claw - Exclusive

As a self-proclaimed "lifelong fan of combat sports," actor Holt McCallany was eager to take on the role of Fritz Von Erich, legendary wrestler, regional promoter, and head of the Von Erich wrestling family, in writer-director Sean Durkin's biographical drama "The Iron Claw." But although McCallany had trained in both amateur boxing and mixed martial arts, delving into the sport of wrestling opened a new frontier for the "Mindhunter" star.

"I was a wrestling fan, but I had never actually trained as a wrestler," McCallany tells Wrestling Inc. in our exclusive interview. "So the first thing that I did when I got the role was I found a wrestling school in Brooklyn. It's run by a guy named Johnny Rodz. He calls himself The Unpredictable Johnny Rodz, and he was actually someone who had wrestled Kevin Von Erich in Madison Square Garden. When I went into his office and I said, 'I'm going to play Fritz Von Erich,' he said, 'Oh, you mean The Iron Claw?'"

"The Iron Claw" was Von Erich's signature move, and McCallany had to learn that and much more as he began his training regimen under the auspices of Rodz. "He gave me a lot of his time and really, really coached me and really, really helped me, because it's a lot harder than it looks," McCallany recalls about the work he put in. "It requires tremendous athleticism, but also a lot of technique, and you either know the technique or you don't."

After working with Rodz, McCallany headed down to Baton Rouge to begin shooting. That's where he came under the tutelage of the film's wrestling coordinator, former ECW World Champion Chavo Guerrero Jr.

"I was able to continue with the benefit of Chavo's help and his wisdom to refine the character," McCallany says.

For McCallany — whose screen credits include "Nightmare Alley," "Three Kings," and "Fight Club," in addition to his lead role on "Mindhunter" — the key to playing Fritz Von Erich, who was not just a three-time world champion but one of the most feared heels of his day, was learning not just how to wrestle, but how to do it in the actual style of Von Erich himself.

"Different wrestlers have different styles, different identities," McCallany says. "Fritz was a big, strong guy, and in the wrestling game, they call a guy like that stiff, which means that he's not there necessarily to take it easy on you. In fact, there were certain wrestlers in his era that didn't want to wrestle Fritz Von Erich, because they said, 'No, I'm just going to get injured.' You know what I mean? 'He's too tough, he's rough in there. Don't bring me Fritz.'"

The result of McCallany efforts is an outstanding performance in "The Iron Claw" as a wrestler and businessman who was often merciless as a fighter, and who carried that ruthlessness into both his leadership of World Class Championship Wrestling and the raising of his six sons, five of whom preceded him in death even as most of them also followed him into the ring.

"That's where the journey began for me," McCallany concludes. "Just doing enough training and learning enough about the sport so that I could feel within myself that I had earned the right to walk out there in front of the cameras and play a professional wrestler, and specifically play Fritz Von Erich."

"The Iron Claw" is out now in theaters.