Neal McDonough, a conservative Christian actor blacklisted after rejecting kissing scenes in Justified, recounts industry backlash—financial ruin and alcohol dependency—that his wife helped him overcome through faith. Now producing films like Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist with Derek Presley, he blends biblical themes with mainstream appeal while warning against career cancellation for conservative values. McDonough frames adversity as a test of gratitude, urging unity among believers and critiquing Hollywood’s moral compromises. His story underscores how integrity over industry demands can reshape careers—and culture—around faith-driven storytelling. [Automatically generated summary]
All right, I'm really happy to have Neil McDonough on today.
He is, I'm a big fan of his.
He is a really talented actor.
He came to fame in Band of Brothers, which I only just saw recently.
I first saw him in Justified.
He now has a new movie out, Left Behind, Rise of the Antichrist.
It is a sequel to a film that was made quite a while ago, and we'll talk to him about that and about a lot of other things.
Here's a brief clip of Left Behind.
If someone had told me that millions of people were just going to disappear, I, like you, would have said they were crazy.
Was it the rapture?
Yes.
Yes, it was.
Are you sure?
I mean, are you really sure?
I saw it happen.
Those weren't fantasies.
It wasn't the rapture.
The rapture was debunked on the first day.
The second wave of vanishings has thrown the financial markets back into chaos.
Trust me.
You want to make sure you're on the right team.
You're already teaching them the art of fake news.
I just wish I could see you one more time.
Why are you still here?
Because I asked God to leave me behind.
We don't need to look for magic.
They're not a bunch of religious wackos.
Wackos like my mom.
Fortunately, we have a solution.
We can implement Eden Pay worldwide in a matter of weeks.
Welcome to the future.
Let me welcome Neil McDonough.
Neil, thank you so much for coming on.
I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me on the show.
I really appreciate it.
It's to be on the Daily Wire and to be with you guys.
It's something I've been looking forward to for a while.
So here we go.
Let's start it up and have a fun conversation.
Give Over To Him00:13:51
Well, I am truly a fan.
I'm not just saying that.
I first noticed you on Justified, one of my favorite shows with, of course, international stage and screen star Nick Searcy and an occasional assist from Tim Oliphant.
But you played this murderous, sadistic, very smooth, but very sadistic killer.
And if I may say so, you have one of the cruelest faces I've ever seen.
And I was absolutely shocked when I started to read about you and find out that you are a Christian who refuses even to do kissing scenes on screen.
Is that true?
Yeah, that is true.
And everyone, you know, it was funny.
It was Justified that was kind of like my big comeback role where, you know, I was fired from a show because I wouldn't do certain things.
And everyone thought it's because I'm this religious zealot.
And, you know, obviously I'm a very religious guy, but I just love my wife.
You know, I love my craft.
I love working.
But I love my wife, my family that much more.
So I was never just comfortable with it.
And there are plenty of guys who are.
So my hat's off to you for doing it.
But for me, it's just something that I was never very comfortable with.
And after about two years of suffering and not being able to work and kind of losing everything, my house, my cars, my, you know, kind of just really taking it hard.
I remember that this one day, I said, God, why have you forgotten about me?
And then as soon as I said that, I kind of crumbled to my knees and realized what an idiot I was for saying something like that because he gave me so much.
And it was, I think it was his test to me to make me realize how much I have in my life.
And sometimes you need to sit back every once in a while and look at what you do have and appreciate what you do have.
And that was that moment.
And then 10 seconds later, Graham Yost calls and said, you want to be the villain on Justified this year?
So be careful what you ask for in life because he's always listening and he's always watching.
So look, after 100 and 150 movies and TV shows and five kids and a fantastic wife, and now we're producing our own films.
And it was one of those things in my life where I was in the career for about 10 or 15 years.
Everything was going so well.
But I think I just started taking it for granted a little bit.
And I think he just probably wanted me to really realize how much he did give me and is giving me.
And that's where I'm at today.
And I'm just blessed beyond belief to have what I do have.
And yeah, it's pretty fantastic.
So just the fact that you wouldn't do sex scenes essentially meant that your entire career vanished.
Yeah, I mean, there were two things that really happened.
I think during that time, I also kind of, as we all do, lean on a crutch.
And for me, it was just leaning on alcohol and trying to just drown myself and trying to figure out why the heck my life is going this way.
And it turned out to be the greatest thing that ever happened to me.
And then, you know, with my wife, Revere, kind of coaching me, I always say I can go through life with one hand tied behind my back as long as that hand is being held by my wife, Rave.
And she helped me realize that, you know, alcohol wasn't the right thing for me.
And that by giving up alcohol and really focusing on my career as a man, as an actor, as a father, as a husband, all these things, holy cow, you look at the last seven years of my career compared to the seven years beforehand.
Now I'm writing and producing my own films with my partner, Derek Presley.
And Rave and I are raising our own finances to tell films that we want to tell, films that reach out to the heartland of America, films that reach out to people who want to watch the bad guys take it in the end and the good guys who have their flaws get through their problems like all of us and figure out how to stand up to what is right.
And I get to make those films now and write those films and produce those films and put content out there that my family can be proud of to watch.
Man, I'm the most blessed guy in Hollywood.
And that's for sure.
So it's, yeah, that's where I'm at in my career right now.
It's pretty great.
You know, it's really interesting that you don't want to do sex scenes, but you don't mind playing.
Have you seen how good looking my wife is?
I mean, why?
I mean, I kid ourselves.
Well, yeah, it's like Paul Newman said, why go out for a burger when you got straight?
You guys take it home.
I use that word all the time.
But the thing is, but you don't mind playing an evildoer like you did in Justified.
So talk a little bit about the new film, Left Behind, Rise of the Antichrist, where it seems like you're playing a fairly sinister character.
Yeah, I think, you know, playing villains for me is kind of make-believe.
So when I'm on set and when I'm doing these things, you know, like, especially some of the things during Justified, Reve would be there on set and we'd just be laughing at everything that's going on because it's just so absurd.
And then finally, when we got home, this one episode, we watched an episode.
And it's one of the last times I've actually sat down in front of a television and watched what I do because I kind of scare myself at times.
And it scared Revere.
And she would, you know, it took her a few days and she finally told me why she was upset.
She goes, what were you thinking when you were doing that scene?
And I keep my choices really simple.
And by keeping them so simple, it makes it almost like I'm the guy next door, which makes it really scary.
So I have to provide for my wife and my five kids and make a career of something that I love doing.
So my choice was: okay, I'm either going to be in the middle of a battlefield as a soldier, or I'm going to be the villain.
I'm going to be the best villain out there.
And now finally, I get to produce our own films and I get to play the heroes, which is what I've always wanted to do, but really didn't have the opportunity to do so because of obvious reasons.
But to work with Kevin Sorbo, I got to tell you this, there are few guys during Banda Brothers.
Dick Winters was always the guy who led from the front.
And so many productions I've been part of, the leaders lead from the rear and it doesn't really work so well.
Kevin Sorbo is that guy.
He's leading from the front.
He is, you know, kind of like what Kevin Costner is.
It's that same feeling of, I'm prepared.
I know my stuff.
Let's go have a great day at work.
Let's give him some honor and let's do the right thing.
And I love working with Kevin because he's that guy.
And when you see the film, and I've seen clips of it, it's filmed so well.
It's shot so well because he makes everyone on the crew feel like there's a common goal of doing something great.
And I think that's what we did on this film.
You know, I'm a big Kevin Sorbo fan, both professionally, but also he's just one of the nicest people.
He and his wife both are, they're absolutely lovely people.
He's one of the most heated people on Twitter.
I never mentioned him about.
Not me either.
You just can't find a nicer human being than Kevin Sorbo, but you really can't.
And then great golf swing, too, by the way.
Oh, really?
All right.
I was actually hoping he would tell me something.
I was actually hoping you'd tell me something bad about him.
So I could.
What is the story of Left Behind, the rise of the Antichrist?
I'm not really sure what I'm allowed to say.
Oh, okay.
Coming out.
But I'll tell you this.
It's filmed so well.
It's got a great message.
It's a film that the masses can watch and think.
What I love about certain types of films is that it makes you think you can go as dark as you want in a film.
You can go as light as you want in a film.
It doesn't matter really.
It's if it's done really well.
And for me, if there's a moral play going on, then it makes you think, hmm, after watching that film, maybe I can be a little bit better of a husband.
Maybe I can be a little bit better of a worker.
Maybe I can be a little better as a dad.
Maybe be a little better.
If he got over it, maybe I can get over that thing.
If she got over it, maybe I, you know, so those are the films that I've always liked.
You go way back, one of my favorite films of all time was The French Connection.
Popeye Doyle was such a mess of a human being, but by the end, he figured out how to get it done.
You know, you go back to Dirty Harry, it's the same kind of thing, where all these characters are just kind of have their flaws, but at the end, they're the only ones who can stand up to whatever is going on.
And I've always loved those characters.
Just for the last 15 years, I had to play the other side of the spectrum, playing the villainous side.
Now I get to play the heroic side, which to me is something that I'm finally, you know, I'm in the spot where I'm exactly supposed to be.
And, you know, he has put me in this spot for a reason.
And I'm not going to ever take it for granted.
I'm never going to just kind of, you know, I've never been a guy who mails it in.
My dad said, when you go to Hollywood, if they give you a dollar, give them $2 worth of effort.
And that's what I pride myself on.
And my kids are the same way.
And Rave is the same way.
So at the McDonough Company, which we started a few years back, those are the films and TV shows that we aspire to do and are going to keep on making because I know the heartland of America doesn't really get the entertainment that they always want.
And, you know, that's the entertainment that we're trying to make.
So is your company going to concentrate on Christian content specifically, or is it just going to be there's this one quote a friend of mine sent to me the other day.
It's Psalm 133.
How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity.
And I think what we do as followers of God, we sometimes forget there are all kinds of followers of God.
You know, there are Jews, there are Muslims, there are agnostics, there are Buddhists, there are Taoists.
There's all kinds of people across this planet, but we're all God's children.
And if we all treat each other as brothers and sisters, if we unify each other as us, not pieces, then the world is a whole lot better place.
So for us, in the films that we try to make, we try to talk to everybody.
We don't try to just talk to one group.
We try to talk to everyone and say, look, God's got your back.
You just have to give over to him and have faith in him.
He will always be there for you.
You can always lean on him.
Even how when times are really tough and you're going through very difficult things in your life, if you just give over to him, great things will come out of it.
And we're here for a short amount of time.
But what we're promised is eternity if we do the right things.
And I think those, again, those are the templates of the films, the TV shows that we really strive to make because everyone's out there looking for entertainment to make them better, right?
Not worse.
Let me ask you a question about this because I had a week this week where I talked to several artists who had been canceled, basically.
One of them, a very talented painter I've had on my show, Arthur Kwan Lee, who paints biblical scenes, but was caught out driving while conservative, essentially, and lost all his galleries in New York.
Another guy, Clifton Duncan, who we've had on the show as well, is a Broadway star, doing really well on Broadway, and was thrown out because he wouldn't take vaccines.
You were thrown out.
You were canceled because of your Christian stance.
I was canceled in Hollywood because of my conservative stance.
What do you say to people like that when they come to you and they say, we can't work?
We don't know what to, you know, where, what if, what if a guy came to you at the start of his career?
What would you tell him?
How would you tell him to proceed?
Your career is, you know, what you do for your living is great.
That's it's important to all of us, whether you're a plumber, whether you're a painter, whether you're an actor, whether you're a fireman, whether you're whatever, elected official.
That's just your job, isn't it?
So to aspire to be the best human being you can be is what you should always strive to do.
And we're all flawed.
We all are sinners.
We all make mistakes every single day, but it's how you get up the next day and dust yourself off that makes you a child of God, right?
So when people ask me that question, what's your tip if you have faith in how to navigate that towards in through a business where that really isn't always kind of looked upon well?
I say, well, what are you supposed to do?
You're supposed to be on that path.
You're supposed to always try to do the right thing for humanity.
And sometimes they'll take you down.
Sometimes they'll crucify you.
I've been canceled, you know, all that stuff.
And I'm still the exact same guy I was back then.
I think now I'm just a little more appreciative.
And sometimes it takes carrying that cross to make you realize how fortunate you are and what an amazing world this is.
And that we should love and honor our brothers and sisters with all of our hearts and all of our souls and not fight so much and not desire for so much.
It was, you know, I was listening to a quote that Charlie Munger was saying, Warren Buffett's partner.
It was really interesting.
He said, greed isn't the worst thing in the world.
Greed for happiness, greed for your wife, greed for being the best person you can be.
To want that to be in your bloodstream wholeheartedly 24-7 is not a bad thing.
It's the envy that kills the fabric of America.
It's envying your neighbors.
It's envying their stuff.
It's envying, wow, they have that nice car.
They have that nice thing.
Why can't I have that?
And then you start taking people down because they've been successful at certain things.
They might try to take down Kevin Sorbo for certain things, as you were saying.
You can't listen to jealousy.
You can't listen to hatred.
You can't listen to any of that stuff.
All you can listen to really is what he has out there for you and how you deal with it, the plate that is in front of you.
What are you going to do with it?
And that's what you're supposed to do as a man or woman.
And so when they say, you know, how do you navigate it, you know, having faith in your business?
Bumps and Blessings00:00:48
Well, I think it's going pretty well.
You know, so I can't imagine 30 years ago when I left Cape Cod, Massachusetts, that I'd be writing, producing, starring in films with the most amazing wife and have these five kids and have this life that I have.
There are bumps along the road.
And those bumps, you have to look back at and think, thank goodness for those bumps because it made me appreciate what I have.
I'm the most blessed guy that I know because of all the bumps that I have taken, it makes me truly appreciate what I have now.
And that's where I'm at.
All right, I got to stop there.
It is really great talking to you.
You're a real talent.
And please come back when one of your films comes out and we'll talk again.