“So this year for Jimmy’s birthday it means a whole lot more to Neil McDonough than it did last year, because Ruve and I got to see who Jimmy Stewart was, read all about Jimmy, what he had gone through.”
After years of appearing in mainly independent films, as well as the hit television show Tulsa King, actor Neal McDonough will be starring in a forthcoming biopic covering the life of Hollywood legend Jimmy Stewart, titled "Jimmy."
In the film, which stars KJ Apa as Jimmy Stewart, McDonough will play Stewart’s father, Alexander. The film is set to release on November 6. McDonough told Fox News Digital that It’s a Wonderful Life is his favorite film, one he has seen dozens of times, even watching it outside of the Christmas season.
"It’s such a great piece of filmmaking, because it really kind of breaks down the fabric of America. It’s such an incredible film, and you couldn’t imagine anyone else in the film but Jimmy Stewart. You just couldn’t," he said.
He spoke on the life of Stewart, who, already being an Academy Award winner, went on to become "not just a soldier but a hero in World War II." McDonough said, "to know what Jimmy Stewart had gone through just previously in World War Two, and had already won the Academy Award for Mr. Smith, to come back after World War II and think, what am I going to do now in life? I've seen such atrocities that I'm not going to be the same ever. To take all that pain and put it into a character like he did in It's a Wonderful Life, it's such an important film for America, but it goes down as one of the greatest films of all time, because of who Jimmy Stewart was, and what he stood for."
"He was all about what is great about America, what is flawed about America. Let's talk about them both. Let's get less flaws and more goodness. And he is everything that is great about America of that generation."
He later added, "So to be part of that world and to be blessed that Ruve and I helped produce that film, and to act in the film, obviously KJ Apa, who, by the way, if he doesn't get a nomination for Academy Award, there's something wrong with the system." He spoke highly of Apa, saying "KJ killed it."
"So this year for Jimmy's birthday it means a whole lot more to Neal McDonough than it did last year, because Ruve and I got to see who Jimmy Stewart was, read all about Jimmy, what he had gone through, and then to watch it be personified in the amazing performance by KJ Apa." He said he was "lucky and blessed" to a part of the film.
McDonough also spoke on being fired over refusing to kiss a woman on set who was not his wife, and how he was branded a "religious nut bag" by Hollywood.
"What time is the bar open? That was generally my thought process back then," he said. "It was, you know, fired from a show because I wouldn't kiss a woman. No one would hire me because they thought I was this religious nut bag, which is that I love my wife so much. And no one can understand it, no one could understand it."
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"’Justified’ was just coming out, but I still didn't think I was worth anything because I failed to my family. I failed, [my wife] Ruve, my five kids, that I lost our house. I lost all the beautiful things that were the shiny widgets that I had accumulated, were all taken away from me. And that crucifixion caused me so much inner pain because I made it all about me. How could I let the team down?"
He said his longtime wife, Ruve, pushed him to quit drinking. "She grabbed me and says, it's us or the bottle, you choose," he said, and he "never looked back." The husband and wife duo have worked together to produce projects such as Roob, The Warrant: Breaker’s Law, Homestead, and The Last Rodeo.
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