Neil McDonough plays Laredo, the man hunting the outlaw in Angel and the Bad Man, and he loves it. He is a horse guy, a lifelong western fan, a producer of now nearly sixteen films alongside his wife Ruve, and a man who says he has one boss. That boss is God, and every project he and Ruve put their names on has to be something they believe He would approve. Angel Studios, where they have a first-look deal, is where that vision has found its home.

Westerns, redemption, and why great film is supposed to make you talk after: Neil shares what drew him to this remake of the 1947 John Wayne film, why he loves playing characters who move through moral gray areas, and what it means to him that his villain Laredo gets close to redemption three-quarters of the way through the movie and then walks away from it. He also talks about why he and Ruve describe their approach as faith adjacent, amplifying light rather than preaching, and why he believes cinema is one of the last community experiences that brings people together in a room to feel something and then talk about it.

Highlights

• Why Neil immediately said yes when Angel Studios called to offer him the villain role alongside Zachary Levi and Tommy Lee Jones
• Why he loves playing morally complex characters in westerns and what the gray areas of these stories reveal about life
• How Laredo gets sympathetic three-quarters through the film before choosing not to take his moment of redemption
• Why he describes Angel Studios’ approach as faith adjacent, letting audiences find the messages rather than hammering them home
• How he and his wife Ruve have built a production company and are now producing their 15th and 16th films together
• Why he says his one boss is God and every project has to reflect that
• His upcoming slate including a film about Sister Faustina in Poland, a New York film, Rikers Ghost, and the Jimmy Stewart biopic Jimmy
• Why he believes sitting in a theater with strangers and talking about what you just watched is what cinema was always meant to be

Resources / Links / CTA

• 📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neal_mcdonough
• 🎬 Angel and the Bad Man
• 🌐 Angel Studios: https://www.angel.com
• 🌐 Follow, share, and explore more of Crosswalk Talk
• 👉 Follow, share, and subscribe for more faith-driven conversations on Lifeaudio

Click to Listen to Signs of Life: UM News Podcast Season One | UMNews.org

Join us this Fall for Season One of "Signs of Life," an original podcast from UM News. The journey begins in Atlanta, hearing how a book from an icon of the Civil Rights movement is bringing relationship and understanding to two congregations seeking to bridge divides. Then to Belfast, learning about the Northern Ireland Peace Process and the Methodist connection that was—and is—an essential part of healing and peacemaking. Finally, at the Global Young Peoples Convocation in Dublin, explore the world of translation and interpretation through diversity, language and culture.

UM News Podcast Season One | UMNews.org