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Neal McDonough is a marvelous actor who elevates every role he plays, whether it’s in Band of Brothers or Desperate Housewives. So when he was suddenly replaced with David James Elliott 3 days into the filming on ABC’s new series Scoundrels earlier this week, there had to be a story behind the story. The move was officially explained as a casting change. But, in fact, McDonough was sacked because of his refusal to do some heated love scenes with babelicious star (and Botox pitchwoman) Virginia Madsen. The reason? He’s a family man and a Catholic, and he’s always made it clear that he won’t do sex scenes. And ABC knew that. Because he also didn’t get into action with Nicolette Sheridan on the network’s Desperate Housewives when he played her psycho husband during Season 5. And he also didn’t do love scenes with his on-air girlfriend in his previous series, NBC’s Boomtown, or that network’s Medical Investigation. ”It has cost him jobs, but the man is sticking to his principles,” a source explained to me. You can’t help but admire McDonough for sticking to his beliefs, even if he’s poised to lose as much as $1 million in paydays for Scoundrels, which is based on the New Zealand series Outrageous Fortune centering on the matriarch (Madsen) of a family of criminals who decides it’s time for her brood to go straight after her husband (McDonough, now Elliott) is sentenced to a long prison term. (“I thought these things only happened to women in LA!,” a source mused.)
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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I guess “Thou Shall Not Kill” Is only optional now in Christianity given the Christians (which are probably American Christians since other countries like Latin America would see this differently) are running in here to defend this.
He is NOT killing people for real in movies. What dont you understand about this? Unlike the fact that he would be ACTUALLY kissing another woman. He doesnt want that to affect his family life. What dont you understand about this?
Which actors are killing people? How is “thou shall not kill” violated when no one is killed?
Well, considering the fact that he’s NOT ACTUALLY killing anybody, I’d say that he’s okay with acting a killer. Considering that in a sex scene, he IS ACTUALLY kissing/groping/etc. with a half-naked woman that isn’t his wife, I understand why he’s not okay with doing one. There’s a difference. Yes, it’s all acting, but some acting requires different degress of reality than other acting does.
He’s actually not having sex with anyone either. But don’t let that stop your analogy since the point seems to be one of importance in that American Christian sort of perverse way of justifying your obsession over sex. Like I said, thou shalt not kill is a big one in Christianity. The parsing here is typical of how you view Christianity as your little play land of rules you follow when it does not mean changing how your culture views thing.
Cheating can be more than just actually having sex with someone. And stripping for a bunch of people who are not your spouse qualifies. So does working with someone else who is doing that.
You do not have to be religious to have morals. I imagine that there are a lot of spouses who would not be so fond of this type of acting, Christian or not.
How very bizarre that groping a naked or near naked individual with intent to act out love making is viewed the same as holding a fake gun with intent to pretend to shoot. As every reasonable minded person here has mentioned, no one is actually hurt in acted murder. As I have pointed out, someone might actually be hurt in acted sex. Don’t all the celebs who hook up and break up based on screen romances indicate that there could be more there? Why is avoiding the temptation attacked so heavily?
If acting out murder tempted him to actually murder, I wouldn’t want him to act that either. But clearly, he feels as though one draws him to sin, while the other does not.
You can’t tell me that you would smooch and roll around in bed with a nearly-nude Virginia Madsen and not get aroused? I think my wife would be uncomfortable with that.
I’m sure it’s not just a religious thing, but he also values his marriage more than some temporary acting gig. He’s a tremendous actor and I’m sure he’ll have plenty of parts that don’t involve sex scenes. No big freaking deal.
Dude, it has nothing to do with a stand against sex… he’s just doing it for his marriage… Every marriage is different. Some marriages can handle an actor husband doing sex scenes in the name of acting, while others cannot. I know if my husband was an actor doing sex scenes, it would be really hard for me even if I knew it was just pretend… He is just doing it for his marriage. Sacrifice is an important thing if you actually want to stay married to someone.
Trust me, if it was a stand against sex he wouldn’t even be appearing in “sex-ridden” shows like Desperate Housewives… lol
Akaison – How dense can you be? Just because you are a jaded self proclaimed Hollywood insider doesn’t mean you have to “act” the part of a typical ingenuous liberal. For some people their morals are more important than external perceptions. If the man feels that kissing another woman, even though it’s acting, is a violation of his marriage vows then he is more than entitled to his opinion. He doesn’t seem to mind losing $1 million dollars or so so I’m sure he could care less about your uninformed opinion. Mike
This isn’t parsing principles. It isn’t an obsession with sex. It is an obsession with staying true to your beliefs and commitments. It is saying my personal belief is that you shouldn’t be intimate (which to many is not limited simply to coitus) with someone other than your spouse. You may not agree with that belief and instead believe in ‘open relationships’. That’s up to you. I don’t have to agree with your hedonistic approach to life, but it is your decision to make and live with in the end.
Your Christopher Hitchens hatred of all things Christian is pathetic.
You didn’t think anyone actually wanted a logical answer to that question did you. As you can see, the answer has been given a hundred times, yet the question still gets repeated over and over and over again. Its not about logic, its about ideology.
Actually, the line reads “Thou sall not MURDER.” Killing, on the other hand, was often sanctioned by God. ANY intimacy with a person you do not at the very least intend to marry (or keep as a concubine) is not. Ever. Even if no actual sex takes place, intimate kissing, groping, grinding, ect. are supposed to be restricted to your partner.
And do not blame the Catholics, please. Religious Protestants, Orthodox, Jews, and Muslims are all supposed to behave this way.
Finally, when Neal kills someone on screeen, nothing really happened. Forcing an intimate scene on an actor is like compelling someone to submit to sexual harrasment, no matter how pretty the co-star.
…and the last time a Christian actor killed someone while making a movie was when? What a dolt. I love the Oh-so-tolerant lefty bigotry here.
What are you talking about. I am religious. The difference is I have little patience for your version of Christianity where you surrender the ability to think. You make the rest of us look bad.
And Latin America is a country? Estoy confundido.
I only know of one occasion where an actor actually killed their opposite number in a murder scene, and even then it came as a big surprise to everyone there. (Brandon Lee)
Peoples inability to distinguish between “pretend” killing and “real” fondling amazes me. I’m betting my wife would be okay with me pretending to kill someone onscreen, but fondling a half-naked woman (hey, it’s “ONLY ACTING”, right?) might not go over so well with her.
Way to go, Neal! Too bad there aren’t more like you in Hollywood (and other places, apparently)!
Did you not read ANY of the other responses?
1) When an actor plays a killer, he doesn’t actually kill anyone. Nor does it arouse feelings of wanting to really kill the other actor. When an actor plays a sexual scene, particularly if there’s any chemistry between the two actors, which is often considered a plus, that actor is going to experience some degree of sexual arousal. If you are setting yourself up to be sexually aroused by another person, when you are married, that isn’t fair to your spouse.
2) There are actors who have left their spouses and entered into romantic relationships with an actor they have acted in a sexual scene with. On the other hand, as far as I know, there are no cases of an actor acting in a scene where he kills another actor, who ends up doing that in real life.
What part of that do you critical people not understand? And who are you to judge someone else’s moral standards? And what gives you the right you judge any Christian? Christians do not claim to be perfect. Christians have goals to overcome their faults so they can be more like Jesus, but often miss the mark. When we fail, we ask God for forgiveness and go on and try to do better. God is the judge,because he knows all, not any other human being. But it’s not right to think badly of someone you know nothing about. Would it hurt you to give him the benefit of the doubt?
I believe I read somewhere that there are some porn stars who refuse to kiss. If a porn star believes kissing is intimate, what makes you think it’s any different for an actor?
Good for him. In an industry full of compromise… it’s nice to her someone out there has some morals and backbone.
It’s good to know that there are still some wise men on this earth!
The diff between playing a murderer and being in a sex scene is that no one is killed. In the sex scene you are fondling someone other than your wife.
Well, figuratively speaking, you could say an adulterous sex scene is about killing a spouse…as a spouse at least.
Glad some of you pointed this out and what seems obvious, but I guess isn’t to everyone.
Kirk Cameron wouldn’t kiss the actress in Fireproof- his real wife was a stand-in.
BRAVO.
I have now a new Hollywood hero, Neal McDonough. Now if Hollywood could get a clue.
Finally! Hollywood needs to return to decency. The great actors and actresses of the past made classic movies which could be seen by all without having to venture into sewage for entertainment.
You said that so well. I agree heartily.
oh Lisa grow the f up
No, ‘Wally’, try shutting the ‘f’ up.
Neil, you’re an actor. Hired to portray human beings in all their dimensions. Nobody’s asking you to do porn. Do what you’re hired to do, or find another line of work.
He’s clearly a great actor, and there’s lots of acting gigs that don’t require sex scenes. I’m sure he’ll do just fine. Not like he needs career advice from YOU.
Well, according to this crappy logic, somebody could ask him do do porn, and he would have to since human beings have sex and he portrays them.
He is an actor, not someone’s puppet. He walked from the job and is looking to work where he doesn’t have to compromise. Perfect way to handle it.
I sure hope you don’t just do whatever you are asked to do at work even if it crosses moral boundaries … if you have any.
OK, so the producers reportedly knew about this position from the start, and figured they’d just jolly or corrupt him into it? Well, then it’s their problem.
But I gotta say I have no idea what being Catholic, whether a good one, a bad or a lapsed one has to do with McDonough’s position. There certainly are no provisions whereby the church prohibits performers from “acting” as though they’re being intimate with someone. Does he drop the prohibition if his character is married to the female character? Is it permitted if the sexual activities are only for the purpose of procreation?
Yeah, fine – the guy says he won’t do it, and he’s obviously entitled to make that choice. But Catholicism has nothing to do with it.
In the end, if he says the producers knew, and if he’s simply abiding by his principle and doing what he said he’d do if asked to compromise, where’s the news?
By the way, didn’t McDonough play a politician cheating on his wife in “Boomtown?” And when one considers other roles on his resume, it’s clearly not an issue of not wanting to play negative role models, or an aversion to participating in productions that model murder, crime and violence.
And believe it or not, no matter WHAT TMZ, the National Enquirer and Jennifer Aniston say, there have been countless actors who were able to play roles that required having to pretend intimacy with attractive, appealing performers, and they were nonetheless able to remain faithful to their spouses or significant others. Is the point here that McDonough (or his wife) doubts he can do that?
By the way, nice that there was space to smear Madsen a bit for alleged surgery and botox. Just the sort of high-minded principle McDonough is being lauded for upholding, huh?
The point here is that he doesn’t want to chance it. Smart man to avoid a near occasion of sin.
Catholics according to the Bible and Catechism should uphold modest dress and behavior. So, yeah, it might be related to his Faith.
The principled man is a dying breed. Kudos to Neal McDonough! Much Respect.
Good on this MAN! Too bad the liberal scum ruining Hollywierd will black ball him for in moral values.
This is dumb. Acting a sex scene isn’t cheating on your spouse. Anyway, this guy always looks like he just smelled a fart.
NO, Digger, he just smells the ripe stench of opinions like yours.
Proud of you Neal. If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.
Wow someone in Hollywood with a moral backbone. I too have a new found appreciation for this actor. I have always thought he does an outstanding job in his work that I have seen. Now I have one more reason to appreciate him as a person of principle.
For all of you who are offended by his decision to excercise his right to choose what kind of roles he wishes to take, shame on you. Aren’t you revealing your intolerance for principled people. Be careful it won’t be long before the liberal media labels you a racist and a promoter of hate speech.
I’m glad to see someone in Hollywood sticking to their standards. As for this stuff not being ‘porn’ – if it’s not at least ‘questionable,’ why are the sets always closed when they film them?
Why would the director think a sex scene is so important to the project that it’s worth losing a great actor? You would think a little creativity could have solved the problem.
Interacting with a the opposite sex in sex scenes involves a whole different mindset than portraying yourself as psycho. Pretending to be nuts doesn’t involve suppressing the natural drive as pretending to be turned on but not turned on in bed. Tell of any man that can expose himself to the presence of a good looking woman and not be affected. Maybe I am wrong but I respect this actor for his position and conduct regarding hot sex scenes.
To those posters decrying this actor’s willingness to play a killer, but refuses to engage in sex scenes and use this “contradiction” to lambast the man’s logic: Illogical.
Playing a killer involves the real death of no one. Playing in a sex scene involves real physical intimacy that will destroy character and faithfulness.
Kudos to Neal. At least he’s not a half-wit rationalizer.
IE the playing violent characters vs sex scenes “controversy” raised by Mr McDonoughs critics here.
Playing a violent character doesn’t require McDonough to actually hurt or kill anyone, doing sex scenes does however require him to be very intimate (just short of actual sex) with a woman who is not his wife. There is a difference, McDonough knows it and I applaud him.
Geez, I can’t believe the boneheads who keep throwing up the straw man arguements A.) “killing’s okay but sex is not” or B.) someone needs to tell him it’s “only acting”.
I realize it’s your industry, but if you can’t see his concerns go beyond getting a role or playing a part then you’re so immersed into your make-believe world it’s no wonder you can’t tell up from down.
Hmmmmmm…I guess that means there is one more reason NOT to watch ABC.
Good for him.
Many of you don’t seem to realize the vast difference between violence and sex as related to movies and films. When a character commits violence onscreen, the violence is PRETEND. No one actually gets hurt. However, when your “character” has sex with another character, depending on how it is depicted, that can also be pretend (as they did through suggestion in old films), or it can be to a greater or lesser extent REAL. Nudity in film involves the nudity of a character and the REAL nudity of the actor. Depicted sexual acts as fondling and touching of a character involve REAL sexual acts by the actors. Thus a catholic can in good conscience perform PRETEND acts of violence (or sex) as a character in film without issue, while he may object to a script that calls for him to engage in REAL sexual acts or nudity for the camera. I know our school system today isn’t what it should be; this is known as a “distinction” and used to be a hallmark of what was known as “logic.”
Good job Neil…. there are rewards that are far more valuable than money.
It’s been said before in the thread, but I’ll say it again. If he plays a killer, everyone knows it’s make-believe, and his wife isn’t sitting at home thinking “wow, he does the killer thing really well; I wonder if he’s going to come home and axe me and the kids.”
If he’s in a sex scene he is naked (or nearly so) and realistically simulating sex with Virginia Madsen. This is more than plausible and a legitimate reason for his wife to worry. In fact, just writing this, I’m thinking “ya know, *I* could be tempted.”
Which, I’m pretty sure, is the point. Good for him for sticking to his guns.
You’re a good man sticking to your principles. You were great in Band of Brothers and to me that’s what I’ll always remember you. You captured that part and really made people feel you were that character you played in real life. Best of luck. F Hollyweird.