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The Sharon Osbourne Show April 8, 2004 |
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Sharon Osbourne: ...his roles in "Minority Report", "Band
of Brothers" and now, he's going to be taking on The Rock in the new movie,
"Walking Tall". Please welcome Neal McDonough. Neal walks out, dressed all in black. Sharon: How are you? Neal: Nice to see you. Sharon: Oh, good to see you, too. Neal: All is well? Sharon: All is well! Neal points to the audience: My wife is out there, my brother, my cousin, I got the whole family. Hi, everybody! A shot of the three of them as Neal and Sharon wave to them. Sharon: You know... Neal: A great crowd! Sharon: Excuse me. But when your brother sat down, I was thinking, 'God, he looked like my next guest'. Neal: Exactly. It's all right, Brendan, say hello to the the camera. Another shot of Ruve, Brendan and his cousin. Sharon: You two have just recently been married, right? Neal: We just got married four months ago, which is great. They show one of their wedding photos. Sharon: Congratulations! Neal: Thank you very much. We actually met in London. Sharon: I read that! Neal: That's right. It was four years ago. I did a show called "Band of Brothers" and on the very first night I got to town, Ruve and I literally bumped into each other. My first line to her was 'Gee, you're tall' and her first line to me was 'You're American'. She's from South Africa. I guess it worked cause four years later, here we are! Sharon: Did you meet in a pub? Neal covers his mouth and whispers: Yeah. I'm Irish. What do you expect? Of course, it was in a pub. Ruve was doing public relations for a few different nightclubs in town. So, it was on St. Paddy's Day, literally the very first night I got to town in London. So, to us, London is a very special place. In fact, we're going back there probably next week. Sharon: Oh, you are? Neal: Yeah, it'll be great. It'll be really great! Sharon: Well, congratulations. Really! Neal waves to Ruve: Hi, hon! Another shot of Ruve in the audience, laughing. Sharon: So, are we planning a family, now? Neal: You don't understand... Sharon to Ruve: Are we planning a family? Ruve nods and winks. Neal: For the first year, it was all wedding magazines all over the place and for the last few months, she's been really subtle in her hints. It's been pre-natal books and baby magazines and baby pottery barns and everything. So, yeah, the family will be coming up very shortly. Sharon to Ruve: You ought to get the name books going, too. Neal: We already got names. We got Maggie and Morgan and all kinds of different names. And yeah, it's pretty cool. Sharon: You mentioned, before, "Band of Brothers". I tell you, the times that it's played in my home is unbelieveable. Neal: Really? They show a photo of Neal as Buck Compton in "Band of Brothers". Sharon: Before it went to DVD, we managed to get it from Steven Spielberg's office. We managed to get it early before it was actually released. Neal: Oh, no kidding? Sharon: So, Ozzie takes it on tour with him and plays it and plays it before he goes on stage. Neal: Oh, that's fantastic! Sharon: I'm like, are you crazy with this? I know every bloody line. It drives me nuts! Neal: I think Ruve probably feels the same way. Sharon: But, seriously, what a piece of work! Neal: Yeah. I was fortunate at that time, when I wasn't doing much as an actor, that Steven and Tom took a shot on me and a bunch of guys who really were kinda unknown. And gave us a shot at telling, not just a great story, but a story about some really amazing human beings. I played a character, Buck Compton, and Buck's still alive. He's terrific! These guys are larger than life. And, back then, these guys would literally be lying in snow for ten days straight and they never complained. Guys were getting killed daily and, to this day, these guys never complained about things. Whereas today, we complain about everything. You know, it's so easy to get upset about things - traffic, if your cappucino isn't hot enough. And these guys are so inspirational to all of us. And you know, obviously, I met Ruve on "Band of Brothers". And to work with Steven, to work with Tom...But, to really be a part of that kind of film history and tell a story about those kind of guys was the greatest experience of my life. Sharon: You were honored to be a part of it. Neal: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Sharon: How long were you guys working together on the project? Neal: We shot the project for 10 months over in London. It was great. It was really fantastic. It was difficult, at times, with all the pubs. You know, getting 50 American guys who were over there to work on time. But, it was a terrific experience and then, we worked on some after. Yeah, it was about a year or so to put it all together for us. Sharon: That's a long time. Do you guys still see each other? Neal: Yeah, we see each other all the time. We talk to each other all the time. In fact, we had the 4th Annual Boot Camp Reunion. We had to go to this two week boot camp, which was really kind of brutal but it was a lot of fun at the same time. And this last weekend, we had all the guys get together at one of the guy's house. Michael Cudlitz had a party, it was his house. It's nice we still... Sharon: That's a great thing to do every year! Neal: Yeah, we still talk to each other all the time. And, obviously, Donnie and myself have worked together. We did "Boomtown" together and other projects. And Rick Gomez and a few of the other guys were on "Boomtown". So, yeah, it was a wonderful experience for me and for everyone else who was involved with it. Sharon: Yeah, it's an American classic. It really is! The audience applauds. Neal to audience: Thank you. Sharon: All right..."Walking Tall". Neal: Yeah! Yeah, I'm a nasty boy in that one. Sharon: Oh, dear! Neal: But, it was great because I never got to play a real "bad guy" before. I'm always kind of the "good guy" or kind of a flawed character. But, this time, I was a straight-on jerk and it was so much fun to play. I got to do these massive fight scenes opposite The Rock. I mean, come on! The guy's 6' 4", 250 lbs. and I'm 6', 200 lbs. Thank God it's a movie! Because, if it was real life, it would be a whole different story. Sharon: He' be whipping you. Neal: He' be killing me. Absolutely! Ruve pointed out 'Honey, you had an axe in your hand and you still lost the fight. And he had nothing!' Sharon: He could crack you over his knee. Neal: It doesn't say much for my fighting prowess. But, it was great. The great thing about Rock is that, everyone knows he's this great physical actor, obviously, because of the wrestling for so many years. But, he's such a fantastic actor. He worked so hard at his craft and he worked so hard at being a really great human being, too. And I think that's why he's so successful. Sharon: I think he's a really good actor, too. I really do. He's a very smart man. Neal: He is, yeah. When you get guys who are that successful, they work hard at their craft, but like I've said, they work just as hard at being great human beings. Guys like Rock or Steven Spielberg or Tom Hanks. They work so hard at being good guys and it's so inspirational to be around people like that. To be a part of "Walking Tall", I was fortunate. Sharon: We've got a little clip of you. How mean are you in this clip? Neal: This is just when I start to get mean. Sharon: Meanish. Neal: After this, it gets really bad. They show the clip from "Walking Tall" where Neal is in the Porsche talking to The Rock. Neal: At the end of this scene, Rock gets upset at me, goes in back and takes his big club and smashes the back end of this Porsche. It's supposed to be this rubber bat and he forgot! He had the wood bat in his hand. They said 'action' and he smashed the back of this Porsche. I mean, you can imagine Rock with this 40 lb. bat! He has bashed in the back of this Porsche, the fin was gone and everyone was like 'Oh, my gosh, you were supposed to hit it with the rubber bat!' And everyone was standing with their mouths open. I started laughing so hard and Rock said' Dude, that's not funny. That's not funny!' But, it worked. You'll see it, if you see the film. It was really an amazing shot because the Porsche just got crushed. Sharon: Shattered! Neal: Of course, Rock was there with his checkbook 'How much for that Porsche?' Sharon: I was just about to say 'now, does he own that car?' Neal: Yeah, he definitely owns the car now. Absolutely! He was great. It was really a fabulous experience to be a part of. MGM was so supportive of the whole project. Rock - to work with him - he was my favorite actor I've ever worked with. Sharon: Really? Neal: Yeah, absolutely. He's dynamite. He works so hard. He's a great guy. Sharon: Well, it's a great movie. Now, you can catch Neal in "Walking Tall" because it's in theaters right now. So, go see it! |