‘Heels’ stars talk wrestling, family

“You only love the good guys as much as you hate the bad.”

Stephen Amell is quoting a line from his new Starz hit, “Heels,” which — if you’re just waiting for the elevator pitch — is about wrestling.

Hint: The ring is only part of a sweeping drama about community, dreams and the reality of people who brawl to get through each day whole, with a roof above and food on the table.

“Most of all, it’s a family drama. You don’t need a ring to have a scrappy fight. Living rooms will do,” said star Amell (formerly of “Arrow”), who plays the responsible brother. He is Jack Spade, a hard-working family man and fighter in Georgia with an artistic streak who’s trying to breathe life into a family owned, independent wrestling promotion called The Duffy Wrestling League.

Alexander Ludwig (“Vikings”) is Ace Spade, hero and star wrestler for Duffy, whose life was supposed to leave small-town life in his rearview mirror. Now, he’s living with his mother and doing nine rounds of self-destructive choices laced with emotional outbursts. Ace does enjoy his time in the ring, but he still has to deal with Jack’s “scripts,” where he’s the hero to Jack’s bad guy wrestler, known as a “heel.”

The series has already been called “the next one you will be talking about.”

What was the appeal of the series for you?

SA: My manager reached out to me right away about this show coming down the pike about pro wrestling in a small town. What really caught my interest was it was about family with wrestling in it. The script was just so beautifully crafted, and I just fell in love. Plus, I grew up having a big passion for professional wrestling. I’m a giant fan. As a kid, I was always doing the moves on my brother.

AL: What I loved was that we get really deep into this brother relationship, and we take our time with it. All is not resolved in one episode. This is a show that builds towards something big. I loved that there were so many make-it or break-it moments along the way. This story is really limitless.

There is also a grounded feeling set to the backdrop of wrestling.

SA: What connected me to the whole thing is, this is a show about people wanting more in life, but at the same time they still need to put food on the table. Those are universal quests. Even when you take the wrestling out of it, it’s about the abuse people put themselves through on a regular basis in order to find their dream while also surviving the day in all the practical ways.

Tell us about the character of Jack.

SA: His father started this wrestling league, and it means a lot to the community of Duffy. It’s a small town. You don’t have much going on except wrestling every weekend. So Jack feels the need to keep it going because wrestling is part of the community, and he loves his Dad. He is also driven to expand the business and make it even bigger and more dynamic. At the same time, he acts as the heel, and it takes a special kind of person to want to be the heel. There is something disconcerting about people really viciously, actively, booing you in this vitriolic way.

Tell us about the character of Ace.

AL: Ace is complex, which was the appeal. He’s the hero in the ring and the rock star in his town. Everyone thought he would be the one to leave and really make it big in life, but he’s back. He can’t deal with his father’s death and has no real place in the world. We all know an Ace. In fact, I didn’t know a lot about wrestling when I read the first script, but I was just captured by Ace and how he can be explosive and very self-destructive as a way to deal with life.

In your opinion, what is the appeal of pro wrestling, which, despite all the body slams, is called fake?

AL: I think it’s about the human need to believe we can be more. That’s at the heart of any great accomplishment or great show or great performance. All we want is to be more. Here, you have that drive and ambition set against people busting their asses to provide a nice life for their families. In the ring, everything is heightened. That’s also the appeal of wrestling. People are intense about it. They either boo you or cheer you. It’s electric.

Do you understand wrestlers who stay too long?

AL: Being in the ring is a rush you can’t replicate. It does take a real physical toll, yet there are so many examples of wrestlers hanging on. Maybe they should retire. But they can’t find anything in their lives that creates the feeling you get when the crowd reacts.

What kind of rigorous training did you have to do in order to make the wrestling look seamless?

SA: They actually built us a gymnasium on the Atlanta set. We both did weights and cardio before we ever stepped into the ring to learn the wrestling moves. Our physical training was actually part of the daily schedule, as was mock wrestling matches that were just practice sessions before we filmed. Basically, it was seven days a week in the gym and ring.

AL: The second I signed on, it was an immediate ticket into the ring with Hall of Famers and then nonstop workouts in the gym with our trainers. We trained for months before we got to the set in Atlanta, but it was necessary. Sure, we had a stunt team of wrestlers, and they were pivotal in training us and doing certain stunts, but it was important that we did as much as possible. So, basically, if we weren’t filming, we were in the gym. It was the one constant.

So, you drag your aching body home after a day on the set. What do you do next?

AL: Ice baths

SA: Dinner, ice bath, collapse.

Did you get hurt?

SA: Basically, I came through pretty much unscathed.

AL: I have a few bruises

So, let’s say you get a Sunday off. What’s your perfect way to spend the day?

AL: Skydiving, surfing, skiing or hiking.

SA: I’m the opposite of my screen brother. I’m living for football season. My West Coast weekend and ideal Sunday is a car packed on Saturday night, a drive to the stadium at 7 a.m and then just tailgating with other fans before I go inside and cheer on the Rams. Go Rams!”

AL: You could be skydiving, bro

SA: (Laughing) Yeah, you could be tailgating.