By India McCarty
Neal McDonough recently reflected on the dark moment in his life when he thought his Hollywood career was over.
“What time is the bar open? That was generally my thought process back then,” he told Fox News. “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.”
McDonough said he “didn’t think I was worth anything because I failed my family…and that crucifixion caused me so much inner pain because I made it all about me. How could I let the team down?”
He credited his wife of 35 years, Ruve, for snapping him out of this destructive thought pattern — “She grabbed me and says, it’s us or the bottle, you choose, [and I] never looked back.”
Related: Neal McDonough on ‘Emotional River’ of JIMMY Stewart Biopic
McDonough brought that experience to his upcoming performance in JIMMY, the Jimmy Stewart biopic where he portrays Stewart’s father.
“To know what Jimmy Stewart had gone through just previously in World War II and had already won the Academy Award for MR. SMITH, to come back after World War II and think, well, what am I going to do now in life?” he reflected.
McDonough spoke to Movieguide® about JIMMY, pointing out that Stewart “didn’t have to go to World War II. He could have easily stayed out of it as a movie star…but no, he became [a pilot].”
He referred to a scene played between him and star KJ Apa, who plays the iconic actor, sharing that it made him think of his own father.
“He was in the service for seven years,” McDonough said. “And the stories that he told me…with World War II — to have that hit home, it was such a big moment for me.”
Apa also reflected on Stewart’s service in WWII in an interview with USA Today.
“It became pretty apparent to me after reading about Jimmy, and learning about him through his family, that his proudest achievement was fighting for his country,” the RIVERDALE star explained. “He felt he had a real sense of duty to fulfill in this war because of where he came from: His father was a World War I veteran and his grandfather also fought. He just felt like he had to.”
JIMMY premieres in theaters Nov. 6.
Read Next: Neal McDonough Discusses Faith, Fathers, and Jimmy Stewart
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