Neal McDonough: From “Band of Brothers” to “The Shift”

Drink this.

You got a nasty gas right there. I had a kit so I bandaged it up for you. You seem okay otherwise.

Thank you. Remember your name? Yeah, Kevin. Good.

Nice to finally meet you, Kevin. I'm the benefactor. My ears are ringing. I can't hear you.

The benefactor. I don't understand. Is that a joke? No. I wouldn't do that. Look at you.

Wouldn't joke at a time like this. I'm here to help you. I want to talk to you about business. What business? I want to offer you a job.

I have a job. Well, not for long. Well, that is just a slice of The Shift, a movie that's out for you to download and have a great spiritual Christmas, great holiday season. Neal McDonough is starring in it, actor and producer of the movie. It is now out. It's gettable.

It's achievable. You can go see it yourself. Neal McDonough in studio. If you're smart enough to get Fox Nation, you're seeing him on the stream. Neal, great to see you. Thanks, Brian. Thanks for having me on the show. You usually see interviewing with me on television is enough. A lot of times people make excuses not to do the radio, but you're okay with this. Well, my wife is here, and she says, obviously, I have a face for radio, so this is perfect. I mean, it's just right up my alley. Well, first off, great to see you.

Nice of you to come up. Thank you. Can you tell everyone what was happening in that moment, in that shift, in that scene, in The Shift? Yeah, it's the first moment that... Look, The Shift is basically the retelling of the book of Job.

So it's basically the devil getting into this guy and tempting him with whatever it will take to get him to come to his side. And it's pretty fantastic. And the film itself is so powerful.

And the audience reaction has been so fantastic to it. I can't even tell you, and Angel Studios, what they stand for and what they put out there. Ravet and I are so fortunate and blessed to be part of that system, yeah, that we helped produce this film. And to play this character was just, it was such a deep dive for me to really kind of... Everyone knows what a method actor I am, and just to pull all that stuff out of myself, to play a character that's so dark, and yet try to find the lightness in Lucifer at the same time and really make him as human as possible, which in turn makes him as scary as could possibly be.

Written by someone else, but you produced it. Yeah, Brock Heasley wrote and directed it. And Ravet and I were brought on to help produce the film and for me to star as basically the benefactor, aka Lucifer. How different was the script from the actual final product? Brock is his first film.

He made the little short film called A Torch that they put on the Angel Studio website. And if it passes 50 or 60 percent of the voters, it's kind of like a crowdfunding thing. And it's thousands and thousands of voters in his past. And then what they... Can you explain that to me? What do you mean by this? So they'll do a torch, kind of five minutes of what the film is going to be about. They put it on the Angel Studios website. And the Guild, 6,000 people chipped in to make this film. That's incredible. Wow. So at the end of the film, you'll see all the names rolling in the credits. And the names who invested in the film were longer than the people who made the film.

Wow. That's how incredible Angel Studios is. And then once they raised an X amount of money, the Angel Accelerator Fund matches that and they have a budget to make the film.

And so that's what they did for Brock. They love the short film. And they raise a ton of money to make the film. And here it is out in the theaters now. And it's doing so well. It's a small little film that's just the word of mouth is fantastic.

Can you get it streamed? Not yet. Not yet. It's still in theaters now. You know, here it is, this small little film that has, it's just creeping up the charts. It was number 10 last week. Now it's number eight this week.

And it's third week out. And who knows what's going to happen. But I know that walking down the streets here in New York, it's incredible the reaction that I've gotten from the shift. People have loved this film. They love the message. They love the story of Job. They love how it has a faith-based backdrop to it. Yet there's action. There's sci-fi. And there's a great romantic love story at the base of it.

So wait a second. Between Suits, which is a huge hit. Yellowstone's a huge hit. Band of Brothers, one of the greatest movies ever. Walking Tall. Justified. Everything, The Flash.

That's what people say. The shift? It's crazy. The two biggest, the biggest thing ever for me is obviously Band of Brothers. And for me, to be part of it, I met Ravet, my wife the very first day filming there. Those guys are still all my best buddies. We just did this chain of texting this morning, which is probably five o'clock, six o'clock, their time in the West Coast.

Talking smack with each other. And it's just, those are my guys. And to play Buck Compton, to tell the story of this great generation, I am the most blessed guy.

And then to have all these other films that I've done ever since, it's pretty remarkable. You know what? I have a clip. So with Buck, with you as Buck Compton, here it is. Let's listen.

Cut 26. When people talk about friendships, they say Band of Brothers. We're like a band of brothers.

That's a part of our vernacular now. What was happening in that scene? It's just about when Buck starts to really fall apart and when he starts to see his friends dying and what that was like. I mean, I couldn't imagine being 18, 19, 20 years old. 16, 17 guys who just jumped in lying about their age to fight for what was the right thing for the democracy and the freedom of America. Those guys are just, they're superheroes to me. And to get to hang out with those guys and for Buck to be kind of another father figure for me in my life, it was incredible.

And it was funny. We're at his, here's a guy who was this World War II hero, Purple Heart, Silver Star, everything you could ever get award-wise. Then he goes on to become a police officer and then the DA and the chief prosecuting attorney on Sirhan Sirhan and Manson and all these things. Then he goes off to start his own conservative talk radio show in Washington. And becoming such a father figure to me, he was like, Neil, you got to come out of that political closet one day and have the bravery to admit everyone that you're a conservative.

I'm like, yeah, but Buck, if I talk about that, it's not the greatest thing in my career. And he goes, well, it worked for Ronald Reagan. I'm like, yeah, but I'm not Ronald Reagan. He goes, why not?

Why can't you run for president one day? I was like, hold on a second. And then at his funeral, there he was, I spoke at his funeral. It was his casket in front of me. And I told everyone in the church, thousands of people there. I said, this is for Buck. I said, it's going to sound like an AA meeting, but here it goes.

Hi, I'm Neil McDonough and I'm a Republican. And the place just lost their mind. It was one of those just great moments. And I could feel Buck in his casket just applauding and just laughing and having a great old time with it.

So yeah, he was just, I missed that guy. Like, I can't even tell you. I can't even watch Bender Brothers because it gets so emotional for me. Again, being a method actor, I go back exactly to where I was and what I was thinking with the character anytime I see a character that I played, especially of that depth.

And it's hard. And then two weeks ago, my son is studying Bender Brothers at school at his Christian high school in California. Why would they study that? World War II was a history class that he was studying. And Bender Brothers was the key to the whole thing.

Did they realize who he was? Well, and then the teacher is like, he understood who Morgan was immediately. And then he had me come in and speak to the class about Bender Brothers. And I can't talk about Bender Brothers for more than 30 seconds without getting emotional because it's, you know, it's where I met my wife.

It's where, you know, everything really started for me. And I had to sit there and I haven't watched Bender Brothers since it came out. And I sat and he said, Dad, I missed, he had a golf tournament, so he couldn't watch it in class that day. So I said, Dad, can we sit down and you and me just watch episode seven together because that's the one I missed. And episode seven is the one where Buck really kind of has his emotional falling apart. And it was so hard to watch it because it just brought me back to exactly where I was and what I was thinking at that time. And, you know, there's tears running down my face and Morgan's looking at me. And I think he finally understood the emotional roller coaster that I went through playing Buck and how much it truly meant to me in my life and how important it was to tell the story correctly and give honor to the guys that lived, died, breathed, fought for our freedoms.

And it's, it was, you know, it's the greatest thing that I've ever done in my life. Do you think others felt the same way? Your co actors? They all did.

They all did. It's something that we're all so proud of. And I cannot, I will never be able to thank, you know, it was Steven Spielberg's birthday the other day. And for 23 years, I've sent him champagne on his birthday to say thank you, pal, because without that, I wouldn't have met Rivet. I wouldn't have five kids.

I wouldn't have done 100 movies ever since then and thousands of hours of television and the life that I have and how blessed I am to have been part of Band of Brothers. With Steven, since you're so involved in sports, this is for someone who's never been involved in acting. Good directors are coaches, aren't they? They know the combination of you. So certain people need to be in, hey, you got to get discipline. You got to pay it to other people, you know, they're sensitive.

If you say one thing, they got to overreact to what you say. So what is it about him that he was able to read you enough to get the most out of you? Steven Spielberg is, he's just amazing. You know, to have worked with him several times, you know, I did Minority Report and Boomtown, one of my favorite characters I ever played, Flags of Our Fathers, and there's a great TV series I did with Ed Burns called Public Morals. He's always casting me in things and it's, I'm so fortunate because he knows what talent is, he knows what confidence is, and when you mold those two together, you know, the greatest acting tip I ever got was from Steven Spielberg. Second best acting tip, the best acting tip I ever got was from my wife, Ravet, but the second best acting tip was from Steven and I've studied at some of the greatest schools in the world and he saw me on set the first day of Minority Report and he could tell that I was probably nervous because there was Tom Cruise standing in front of me, there's everyone else, and I was kind of new to them, to the bigness of that kind of film, and he walked up to me and he says, look, can I give you a tip? I was, yeah, I want you to be great on every take.

And he just sat there for a second, he was waiting for my reply, I'm like, what does that mean? He goes, I hired you because I know you're great, so if you just be yourself on every take, you're going to be phenomenal. And it's been in my brain ever since that God gave me a gift of being a really talented actor. I can't pound a nail, I'm terrible at telling jokes, but man, I can act.

And that's, Ravet quoted that once. And he gave me the confidence of realizing that I'm where I should exactly be in front of a camera and it's my most, I'm more comfortable in front of a camera than I am in person. You know, I can, on the last segment when we were on your show, you talked about when we were off camera, you said, are you more comfortable in this or more comfortable as a character? And I'm always more comfortable as a character because I get to make believe. And for me, Neil McDonough, I'm much more shy and introverted by nature, but I have to put on a persona when I go out in public and when I'm walking down the streets and talking to people and such.

What about this? Is this you? This is me right now, much more. Would I be different if we were at lunch?

And there's no cameras or no microphones? It doesn't seem, you seem very natural. Right now, here I am with you, Brian, just talking about life and talking about me. And I generally don't talk about me very much.

You know, I'd much rather talk about my characters and my craft and, you know, how, what it's like. And when I get to talk about being a dad and I get to talk about being a husband to an amazing woman, I get to talk about my career of, you know, a hundred and something films and working for the people that I've worked for and worked with. And here I am now, you know, on our fifth project that Rabay and I produced together and to do films with Angel Studios, to be able to do the films that I've always wanted to tell, to do films that have a backdrop of faith and how we can be better by watching some entertainment to make us think, hmm, how can I be better as a coworker? How can I be better as a teammate? How can I be better as a dad or husband or whatever? How can I be better as a child of God?

And, you know, it always makes me come back to this one thing. We're all children of God. So we're all brothers and sisters. We should all be rooting for each other as one big family. But instead we divide ourselves for certain reasons. And I still can't understand, well, I'm not sure what the correct faith is.

I'm not sure what the correct, you know, anything is, but it doesn't really matter what your race, your creed, your color, your background, we're all in it together. And if we just did that more, wouldn't the world be a much happier, simpler place? But we as humans, we get confused and there's so many messages out there to confuse us. And, you know, as a dad, having five kids, you look at all the social media, we try to really limit the social media for our kids because it just, it bends their brains and it's hard for a 13, 14 year old kid to figure out what is actually reality. And what is just pumped into you to, you know, I was reading this thing the other day, 10 times a day, kids see commercials about soda. Soda is not the greatest thing in the world for you. You're just, we're alcohol commercials. You know, I used to drink alcohol.

I drank too much alcohol. That's why I stopped drinking alcohol eight years ago, because I knew it wasn't the best thing to be a child of him. And so I had to really focus on how can I be the best for him?

How can I be the best for my family? And that was one thing I needed to get rid of. And Ravet helped me get through that. And, you know, it was the greatest thing that I ever walked away from. Do you see beer commercials and say to yourself, I'd love to have a beer? No. Is that what you're saying?

No, I'm the guy. You're saying the negative images. Oh, the negative images, yeah.

Why couldn't we go out of our way to make these images more positive and sell things that are more beneficial? I had this great quote the other day from my pastor back in Massachusetts, Willie Ewing, who I went to school with as a kid. And it was something, I can't remember the actual quote from the Bible, but he was saying, we spend so much time cheering for our sports teams. We spend so much time cheering for this and that and screaming at the top of our lungs, go team, go. But we don't ever see that. Go team, go. But we don't ever scream out loud for our faith in him.

We don't scream out loud how fortunate we are to be loved by God. Hold that thought. Back in a moment. Listen to Neil McDonough.

Pick up and make sure you find some time to see his movie, The Shift. It is out and it's doing exceedingly well. Great reviews.

Back in a moment. From the Fox News Podcast Network. I'm Ben Domenech, Fox News contributor and editor of the transom.com daily newsletter. And I'm inviting you to join a conversation every week. It's the Ben Domenech Podcast. Subscribe and listen now by going to foxnewspodcasts.com. The more you listen, the more you'll know. It's Brian Kilmeade. Do you know the story of Susan Rawlings? Real estate attorney from Hamilton.

That's right. We had a mutually beneficial relationship until she figured out a way to bend the law to benefit her business more than my business. That's the problem with playing dirty, Beth. Because when someone plays dirty back, there's no one to cry to. There's no charges to file. There's nowhere to scream about the injustice you endured.

Because if you do, all your filthy laundry just spills right out in the open for everyone to see. Susan finally realized that. They moved her somewhere in California where they could help her move past the trauma.

We'll see how tough you are after I give it to you. Neil McDonough on Yellowstone, threatening Beth Dutton. Your thoughts when hearing that? So I got to the set and I had never met Kelly. I said, would you like to meet Kelly?

I said, no. Wait till after the scene. Because when I go into those situations, I'm not there to become friends with cast members.

My job is, when I'm the villain, is to be villainous. Even at lunch? Even at lunch.

I'll go to have lunch in my trailer. I'll talk to the crew. I'm great with the crew.

But when it comes to the other actors, I don't really generally speak to them at all. Because it makes it much more intense. So there I was sitting on the set and there's Kelly in her chair behind the, I remember like it was yesterday. And she's getting her makeup all done. I'm just sitting there calmly. And just staring and she's like, I could see her starting to look over at me and she's starting to shake a little bit. And as I said, they've rolled camera, did you want to, and I said, can you have the camera on her first for her reaction? And I'll do my reaction after. And they're like, yeah, we usually don't do it then, but okay, sure.

And as soon as I walk towards her, I see her hands start shaking on the desk. I'm like, ah, this is going to be good. Hey, listen, that's just a few minutes of Neil McDonough.

It's not enough time. The name of the movie is The Shift. It's a great holiday movie. You're going to love it.

And he produced it and he stars in it along with his wife, Neil McDonough. Thanks so much. Ryan, thank you for everything. I really appreciate it, pal. Listen to the show at free on Fox news podcast. Plus on Apple podcast, Amazon music with your prime membership or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.