There’s one Yellowstone actor who’s never pressed play on the TV series himself… at least scenes that he was in.
Neal McDonough, who Yellowstone fans probably know better as the character Malcom Beck, had a memorable run on Taylor Sheridan’s flagship show. If you call yourself a fan of the hit series, you’ll remember that Malcom Beck was an antagonist in the second season of Yellowstone.
Beck’s storyline presumably ended when he and John Dutton squared off (Costner’s character ended more than a few character’s storylines), and if you’d like to take a walk down memory lane, you can do so by pressing play on the video below:
Fun fact: Neal McDonough hasn’t ever seen that scene.
Though he was obviously a part of it, the actor is very open and honest about not watching things he’s put on tape.
While he was a guest on the Arroyo Grande podcast, McDonough revealed that he’s never watched a second of his six episode arc on Yellowstone. His reasoning? Doing so would make him relive and revisit that time in his life, and he prefers not to do that:
“I’ve never seen it. You know, I don’t watch any of my stuff. As a method actor, I can tell you if I look at a frame – that’s why I don’t watch any of my stuff.
If I look at a frame of a show from 20 years ago, I know exactly the thought I was thinking. I know the song I was thinking about. I know where I was going.
So going back to me sometimes can be really kind of traumatic and painful.”
The actor has talked in length about his troubles with alcohol during that time, and how he was essentially blackballed from Hollywood for a while for refusing to perform an intimate scene. Both of those things would come back up if he were to revisit his older roles, so he just avoids watching himself altogether:
“What time is the bar open? That was generally my thought process back then. It was, you know, fired from a show because I wouldn’t kiss a woman.
No one would hire me because they thought I was this religious nut bag, which is that I love my wife so much. And no one can understand it, no one could understand it.”
McDonough’s struggles with alcohol actually coincided with his dark time in Hollywood, but he’s since worked through both of those things, and credits his wife, Ruvé, for helping him out of those trying times.
Later in the interview, the 60-year-old actor addressed the “Well wouldn’t you want to watch your film, in case you wanted to change anything?” question.
From his perspective… if he keeps getting hired for roles (he is… and he’s currently starring in Tulsa King), then he must be doing something right with his acting. Why watch it back if it’s getting the job done, and leading to other jobs?
It’s just a shame that McDonough will never get to watch the arc of his villainous character in Yellowstone. He and Costner going toe-to-toe was must-watch television.
But then again, I completely get why he’ll never watch his time as Malcom Beck.
