Known For Playing Villains, Neal McDonough Says Men Need Heroes

As corrupt businessman Malcolm Beck in Yellowstone, Neal McDonough made things difficult for the Duttons. He was also a crime lord named Damien Darhk across several Arrowverse shows, including The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow. You may also recall that McDonough went up against Tom Cruise in Minority Report, way back in 2002. Where there’s a hero in a big show or a film, McDonough has played a reliable bad guy for a very long time now.But with the release of his new film, The Last Rodeo, which was written by the actor and directed by Jon Avent, McDonough is very much in good-guy territory. In fact, speaking to Men’s Journal ahead of the release of his new film, McDonough says he thinks there’s a reason why there’s currently such a big demand for heroes. “What’s great about now is that guys are allowed to actually talk about their issues,” McDonough tells Men’s Journal. “But I still think we need heroes. I wrote this film one hundred percent for me. I gave myself a shot at being the good guy.”The film itself is an emotional piece of work; Joe Wainright has to win enough rodeo money to save his grandson from terminal brain cancer. “It’s Rocky on a bull,” McDonough says. “I’m not sure where the story came from. I wrote the outline quickly, in two hours on the side of a road in Arizona, while filming The Warrant. I had full faith that obviously, I’m going to play this character.”The film also stars McDonough’s real-life wife, Ruvé McDonough, as Rose Wainright, the wife of Joe.”I get to finally kiss a woman on screen, and they allow that woman to be my wife,” McDonough enthuses. Having been involved in so many westerns in his career, and especially recently, McDonough thinks that the western genre is having a renaissance at the moment because the stories in this genre are often about men struggling with their own issues.”I think for a while, we had the hero guy, the guy who is going to crush the bad guy and all that,” McDonough reflects. “But who is the bad guy? At times, the bad guy is really yourself. What version of yourself are you going to be today for certain situations?”

FORT WORTH, TEXAS – MAY 12: (L-R) Ruvé McDonough and Neal McDonough attend “The Last Rodeo” premiere at AMC Clearfork on May 12, 2025 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for Angel Studios)Rick Kern/Getty Images

McDonough thinks that the best old westerns, like John Wayne’s The Cowboys (1972), show “men being men” but not just “being tough guys.” Instead, for McDonough, the best kind of movie hero is a “tough guy that also has to go through emotional problems, as fathers and husbands do.”With the release of The Last Rodeo, McDonough also hopes that his cinematic future might include even more good guy roles. “I hope the world’s going to see Neal McDonough in a completely different light,” he says. ” A kind of tough dude with his heart on his sleeve that will do anything to protect his family.”The Last Rodeo is in theaters now.Related: ‘1923’ Stars Tease ‘1944’ Return, Open to a Future-Tense ‘Yellowstone’