TV Actor Fired For Refusing Sex Scenes

I had a similar thread a while back where an actress refused to play the part of a gay woman because it went against her moral values. I am baffled by these "actors" who will play drug dealers,murderers,and bad people but something like,in this case, a sex scene for a Television show goes against their standards and beliefs.

http://www.deadline.com/2010/03/no-sex-please-im-neal-mcdonough/

I wonder if would reconsider if they had him play an Arch Bishop! He better not do any roles where he has to use profanity either!

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Updated On: 4/1/10 at 07:39 AM

I also thought - and I could be wrong - that the other incident you mention wasn't about playing "gay" but that the actress objected to the storyline overall and how it was to play out. Not specifically that it involved her character being gay.

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Romantico - while I see where you're coming from. The dangerous thing is that you can't project your or someone else's morals/etc on anyone else. Just like you wouldn't want someone to project theirs on you. To counter your argument - where IS the line then in the above scenario. At what point do YOU allow someone to project their morals and values on you.

The cliche of "if everyone else jumped off the brooklyn bridge - would you too?" is valid. Just because some people - or even everyone else has no problem or has done it - that doesn't mean that you, or someone else HAS to be OK with it.

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You don't respect him for having values and sticking to them? Surprising to me.

And I believe from the article you linked that it was well known and was stated up front what he would and wouldn't do and he was hired ANYWAY.

If you want to not respect someone - perhaps you should not respect those that hired him thinking they would be able to push him to do something against his values. Or those that fired him for keeping to his values.

But to not respect him because he was up front and honest about where the line was and then was fired for it - I don't get that really.

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As an actor, I refuse to play a straight person. It's offensive to me. It may cost me jobs, but hey hey ho ho I won't play a character unless he's a 'mo!

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As I already stated in my post, IF it was in his contract and they hired him anyways it was the fault of the studio. This is why every detail needs to be ironed out before one commits.Hell, he may even be able to sue if it was understood before hand and yet they still asked him to do it.

However, I am hearing now that he knew it was in the script and he just assumed the studio/director would change it.

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2010/03/neal-mcdonough-signed-on-to-scoundrels-knowing-there-were-sex-scenes.html

I guess what is surprising to me is it is just kissing. Sticking to values? Yeah, I get it. Fine. However,if it is something like kissing where does he stand on profanity and subject matter? Is he OK with them as well? If he is so strict and it is all because of his religion,what else won't he do?

I keep hearing people applaud him and patting him on the back as if he was asked to do something terrible and he refused.Looking at his credits on IMDB he has played some pretty evil villains.In Minority Report he even KILLS a man! If he is using his religious morals as an excuse why play such evil men with no moral values?

I don't get it. Standing up for your morals and beliefs is one thing. I just think this is foolish. Will he work on Sundays? On religious holidays? Will he appear with his shirt off? These questions and details will need to be addressed when hiring this guy.

I saw this comment and agreed with it.Sums up my feelings perfect.

"I just lost some respect for McDonough, a favorite for his work on "Boomtown" and "Band of Brothers" among other things. Cause I mean really, we're not talking HBO here. This is an ABC show. That means there is no nudity or anything. It can't be too rough. At least nothing as bad as when he played an alcoholic cheating on his wife in "Boomtown". I don't remember any real sex scenes but she walked out in her bra once. And he made lots of innuendo. What's so different now Neal?

So he has no moral objections to violence or killing -- given that his character killed people on Desperate Housewives -- but he has "moral and religious" objections to having sex onscreen?

Man, talk about screwed up religious values. This is why America is laughed at by the rest of the world."

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Updated On: 4/1/10 at 11:16 AM

and reg knows from whence he speaks. he was fired for improving a gay love scene with john candy once.

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I don't think it's so much about his morals as it is about his relationship with his wife. You can claim "Well, she should have known better than to marry an actor if she has issues with him 'acting' intimate with another person" but bottom line, that's probably just an agreement that the two of them have.

To compare it to being a murderer in another film is irrelevant. To 'fake' kill someone is just that, it doesn't actually hurt anyone. But, he would have to do the act of kissing another woman besides his wife. That's intimate, that's personal. And in any other business, it's completely wrong. So, if his wife said she'd marry him, love him and support him if and only if he never kissed another woman again (Which I personally think is fair to ask your SPOUSE) and he fully supported that by having it in his contract, I think it's praiseworthy.

I agree. What married couples in Hollywood agree not to kiss anyone else? IT"S KISSING! ITS CALLED ACTING!

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That's just our romantico: if something bothers him at all IT BOTHERS HIM A LOT!

he requires that you do full frontal nudity and "simulated" sex, rom.

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Where does it say that this stuff was actually in his contract? I'm only seeing that it's a well-known fact in the business.

Saying he should get into a different line of work is silly, because he clearly has managed quite well for himself for a number of years. If he manages to keep working while still sticking to certain person rules, why does anyone really care? Every actor has limits on what they're willing to do.

Also, none of us have any idea how or why this line came about for him, so we can't say that his wife was the one to ask for it. It could be entirely personal on his part.

Basically, he has a line, he has his own reasons for having it, and he still manages to work regularly. Why do people even care?

Why do you?

I don't care, really, of course. And I think it's fine to have limits. But I think kissing scenes are a pretty basic thing; it happens an awful lot in many, many plays and movies.

But if it works for him, it works for me. I still think my gynecologist line was funny.

Updated On: 4/1/10 at 12:39 PM