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Home Theater Forum recently sat down with Neal McDonough who stars as Dum Dum Dugan in Paramount and Marvel's Captain America: The First Avenger. Neal has appeared in a wide range of film and television, from Star Trek: First Contact to Minority Report, and from Band of Brothers to Desperate Housewives.
Captain America will be released on Blu-Ray, 3D Blu-Ray and DVD on October 25th.
HTF: Thanks for sitting down with Home Theater Forum today
Neal: No problem!
HTF: Well, first, congratulations on the recent birth of your daughter.
Neal: So thank you very, very much. She is, she is, she is an amazing, amazing child. She, she looks just like her mom.
HTF: And congratulations on Captain America.
Neal: Yeah, what a great hit that was, you know. I, I think we all knew that it was going to be a huge hit, but what a great, great time that was.
HTF: So how did you, how did you prepare for the howling commander role of Dum Dum Dugan?
Neal: Well I immersed myself in the whole folklore of Dum Dum which was big and then lifting a lot of weights and kind of get in shape and, you know, putting on some muscle. It was the fun, easy part of it, then how great it was to be in London for four months and have my family over there for much of it. And it was really just a great time. And, and then of course six months of growing that - what my wife didn't like that's for darn sure but that mustache was tough. It’s tough for a guy to grow a mustache, unless you love mustaches which I don't, but to have that thing on there for a half a year was, was a challenge but I know that that was what needed to be done, you know, to play him correctly.
HTF: Yeah, it was quite an impressive piece of facial hair.
Neal: Of course!
HTF: So Captain America was shown in the theaters in 3D and it's coming out on Blu-Ray that way. Did you did you get to catch yourself in 3D and if you did, how did you like seeing yourself in the third dimension?
Neal: Oh, I love to see myself and everyone else in the third dimension. It was amazing. 3D was, you know, the way they use the 3D in Captain America was really terrific and that's Joe's planning. Joe Johnson the director. And what, what you'll see from the behind-the-scenes on, on the DVD is really quite amazing. It shows you how things are done and the genius of Joe and how hard Chris worked on his character and how much fun we all had. It's a pretty amazing DVD.
HTF: Are you set up for 3D at home, or is that coming soon for you?
Neal: No, not yet. We've talked about it and I'm sure with four kids I'm sure we'll have to go 3D but we're just regular at this moment.
HTF: So you've played some genuinely nice guys and you've played some pretty good bad guys. Do you purposely balance the kind of roles that you take on, you know, whether they're on the side of good or the side of evil, or is it just whichever role is best…
Neal: Absolutely, absolutely. That is purely by design (laughs). I want you to know I'm kidding. I love playing them both and sometimes I'm lucky enough to get offered one, sometimes I'm lucky enough to get offered the other and I'd love to say that there’s a plan but it's whatever the great character is. You know, that's the most important part and I've been fortunate to be able to do both and do both really well. So I just started on Justified this last week and I'm a baddy in this one and then I go off and do another one and I'll be a good guy in the next one. Keep 'em guessing, keep working, that's the key right now.
HTF: So you're no stranger to science fiction and fantasy. You've had roles in The X-Files, in the excellent Minority Report, and you were a good guy who turned Borg bad in Star Trek: First Contact and now a super hero film. Is that a genre you enjoy watching or is that just you've gone where the roles are regardless of genre?
Neal: I enjoy good movies. I don't like bad movies, you know, I enjoy good TV and not bad TV. I've been lucky to be part of both. You know that might sound funny but I've done some projects that aren't so good and I've done some projects that are amazingly good. And I love them all equally because they're my characters that I'm playing. But when I'm fortunate enough to be offered a great one, that's such a blessing. In Captain America, to play Dum Dum is such an amazing thing. Really amazing and to do Cap 2 (Captain American 2) and hopefully do the Nic Fury film and other things and other parts of the Marvel universe. You know, it's like I keep saying it really is such a blessing for an actor to be part of something fantastic like this.
HTF: Absolutely, and Captain America's a terrific film and you were terrific in it. So I really hope that we get to see your character throughout the rest of the the Marvel universe which is expanding exponentially.
Neal: Yeah, it is.
HTF: You're a deeply family man. You're from a big family; you are growing a big family. Do you let your children know that you're an actor? And, even though they're still quite young, do you let them watch you even in your bad-guy roles or are you sort of shielding them from that
Neal: No, the, there'll be plenty of time in their lives to watch me do the bad stuff or even Band of Brothers which is an amazing film, you know my oldest is 5and he's getting pretty close to being able to watch the stuff but I want them to keep their innocence as long as I possibly can, you know. Life is challenging enough for kids these days so that's what I'm trying to do so certainly my more villainous roles I don't let them watch. What I do let them watch is some things which I haven't done in quite some time but, the really goofy, fun things, or some things I will edit them down and say here's daddy kids. So they’ll understand when I walk down the street and someone says “hey” and the kids will ask why are they taking a picture, daddy? So at least they know, okay, so dad's an actor, I guess being an actor is kind of cool, I guess, and I guess they're taking a picture, they don't really understand, you know, so you gotta let them in on it but not too much. They know who Dum Dum Dugan is and I showed them lots of pictures of Dum Dum Dugan but I haven't shown them Captain America yet.
HTF: Okay. So I was reading that your roots are Irish. How much do you keep connected or how much have you explored your Irish roots?
Neal: Well, my mom and dad were both born in Ireland and I have an Irish passport so my roots are pretty thick. My sister's still over in Ireland, she owns a newspaper in Tannemara and we were just there this last year and we vacation there when we can vacation. And I have a lot more relatives in Ireland than I do here in the States so we keep our ties pretty close.
HTF: That's excellent. So you’ve got a busy 2012 coming up including Heartbreak Hill which you co-wrote and you're starring in, so how did you get into writing that story and how are you getting yourself ready for what appears to be quite an emotionally challenging role?
Neal: Yeah, I've been writing for years and I don't really show much of my stuff to anyone and, I wrote this other thing called Redemption which is about a vigilante priest and in which we're knee deep in at this moment, and then Heartbreak Hill will be a fantastic thing. We're in pre-production now and we're just trying to get everything ready. My schedule has been kind of crazy with Justified and, you know we have to push ‘til March. For me it's keeping as many things balanced as possible and from my professional career, I have a lot of eggs in the basket and keep moving forward whether I have to help write them or produce them or find projects or audition for projects or whatever the case is, to keep things going, keeping my acting sharp as can be. And also, you know, keeping doing things where I can stay with my family as long as possible too; to be able to stay here in Los Angeles and shoot a TV series like Justified is a great thing and to do Heartbreak Hill and then I'll be away for a couple months and that's the hard part but, that too and it's a very passionate project for me.
HTF: I'm really looking forward to what you're gonna do with Justified. It's a great TV show and it's great to have you added to it. Do you have any feel for how bad your character will be?
Neal: Well, I shoot two people in the face in the first episode, if that means anything (laughs).
HTF: Well, there you go.
Neal: And you think I'm a good guy and you think I'm a fairly good guy until the very, very end of the show. I am a family guy through and through and I protect what is mine and I try to make Kentucky mine. [My character’s] from Detroit and get to Kentucky and try to make the crime syndicate mine and kind of be the Tony Soprano down there and I'm gonna do whatever it takes to win over and make it mine. So you can imagine how far I'll go with this.
HTF: Absolutely.
Neal: It's gonna be a blast.
HTF: Very much looking forward to that.
Neal: You know, I'm looking forward to the end of the season where, you know, Tim Olyphant and myself are nose to nose and, you know, let's see what happens.
HTF: Well, thanks again for talking with me, Neal. It was a sincere pleasure and all the best for the future.
Neal: My pleasure, thanks.
