Actor Neal McDonough’s latest film, “The Last Rodeo” is hitting theaters, and aside from a sweeping story about a grandfather trying to save his grandson, it features an on-screen kiss from McDonough, something he’s famously shied away from.
Speaking to Fox News, McDonough shared what was new about his role as the hero in “The Last Rodeo.” “I’ve been riding horses my whole life, so to jump into this saddle is different because I’ve never really been in this type of saddle before. I’ve not been the hero of the movie,” he said. “I’ve never been in the position where I get to kiss the girl in the end because, as everyone knows, I won’t kiss another woman on screen.” McDonough convinced his wife to play his onscreen wife in the movie. “I convinced my wife, Ruvé. I said, ‘Honey, you have to be in the film because I have to kiss the girl in the end.’ She’s like, ‘I don’t know how to act.’ I’m like, ‘Well, you do now,’” explained McDonough.
The decision to remain faithful to his wife onscreen has cost McDonough roles throughout his career. In 2010, he was fired from an ABC show called “Scoundrels” for refusing to kiss another woman. “For two years, I just didn’t work. I didn’t have anything,” he said on a recent interview of the “Dutton Rules” podcast. “They took my house away, cars away, everything. And at that time, I drank myself kind of silly just to kind of push everybody away and, and wallow in my own self pity.” Like his character in “The Last Rodeo,” McDonough had to find his way back to God. “If it weren’t for my wife, Ruvé, you know, I wouldn’t be here today. She got me through the problems that I went through all those years ago. She put my butt back into church. She got me to stop drinking and focus on what was important in life. And that was on God,” he said.
McDonough shared with Fox News that kissing Ruvé onscreen was the culmination of their years of faithfulness to one another. “We did it, and that was one of my favorite moments I’ve ever had on a set. There I am, wearing the hero hat, being directed by my favorite director of all time, Jon Avnet, kissing my wife in a movie, finally doing it the way I’ve always wanted to do it. It’s the greatest feeling,” he said. It’s also an homage to the woman who has helped him build his life through the good and bad. “Watching me love the thing that I love more than anything on this planet … for me, it was the crowning achievement of everything I’ve done in my life.”