Many folks discovered actor Holt McCallany in his brawny breakout role as FBI analyst Bill Tench in David Fincher’s serial killer series “Mindhunter” (Netflix). McCallany, who is 60, brought an old-fashioned robust masculinity over three decades to countless smaller roles, from Fincher’s “Alien 3” and “Fight Club” to Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley.”

“Del Toro is one of the kindest, smartest and most gifted filmmakers,” said McCallany over Zoom. “The only thing is, he wouldn’t let me do my own stunts. ‘Guillermo. I can do it! Believe in me!’ I get run over by a car by Bradley Cooper. They let me do the part where I get smashed in the face by the bumper, but he wouldn’t let me roll over.”

Now he pops out of the ensemble in Sean Durkin’s holiday hit “Iron Claw” (A24) as Fritz Von Erich, the controlling patriarch to...