Nat Wolff is taking over Charlotte’s movie theaters

Nat Wolff currently can be seen in the Lily Tomlin comedy “Grandma,” which opened in Charlotte theaters last week.

The 20-year-old actor also can be seen in the Robert De Niro comedy “The Intern,” which was released nationwide Friday.

And Wolff also can be seen opposite Mickey Rourke in the dramedy “Ashby,” which also debuts in Charlotte Friday.

“Oh, God,” he says, groaning loudly. “You’re gonna be so tired of me.”

Frankly, though, it’d be hard to blame Wolff if he were to admit being a little tired of us. He spent a couple of months last summer shooting “Ashby” for writer-director Tony McNamara in and around Charlotte; then by sheer coincidence, Wolff came back to the area last fall to spend a couple of months working on “Paper Towns,” adapted from John Green’s young-adult best-seller. (For the record, Wolff said: “I loved Charlotte!”)

Want to know more? Here are three fun, unique and/or interesting things we recently learned about the young man taking over our movie theaters this month.

1. Wolff earned a spot on the South Mecklenburg High School football team. Well, not really. But he could have.

To prepare for his role as high school student Ed Wallis – who befriends his new neighbor, Ashby (played by Rourke), a retired CIA assassin with only a few months to live – the actor spent about three weeks working out and practicing with the Sabres.

“It was like the movie at first: The coaches were kind of laughing at me,” says Wolff, whose nerdy but athletic character longs to be a part of his new school’s football team. “By the end, one of the guys said that if I tried out next season, he’d put me on the team. So I really did get better.”

The football stadium at South Meck appears in multiple scenes, and during the closing credits, Sabres coach Rocky White and athletic director Kevin Hinson both get shout-outs.

2. Thanks to key roles in two movies based on John Green books (the other being 2014’s “The Fault in Our Stars”), Wolff is getting recognized by teenage girls. A lot.

However, he says, “The good thing about getting recognized for the John Green movies is that the people who love John Green are all really smart. They’re all readers. They’ve read the books like 10 times. So they speak really eloquently, and they have a lot of interesting things to say.”

As for those days when he wants to be incognito, Wolff is struggling. “I don’t really look that good in hats, so I’ve got to figure out some other method. I’d rather get recognized than have to look like a dork in a baseball cap.”

3. Wolff probably won’t read this article.

When asked what he thought of Vanity Fair labeling him as “the Next Teenage Heartthrob” in June, when “Paper Towns” hit theaters, he waves it off.

“I honestly try not to read about myself or think about the way that I’m being perceived in the business too much,” he says, “because I think it would just make me too self-conscious and crazy.”

But Wolff – who turns 21 in December – does have self-awareness.

“I feel like ‘Ashby’ is the story is Ed’s transformation ... Ed’s ‘coming of age,’ ” he says. “And at some point, I have to stop ‘coming of age.’ I’m in all these movies where I ‘come of age.’ I’m just gonna have to be ‘of age’ at some point.”

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 10:28 AM with the headline "Nat Wolff is taking over Charlotte’s movie theaters."