caught somewhere between real life, simple faith, & raw emotion
Actor Fired For Not Doing Sex Scene
Have you heard of Neal McDonough? Maybe you don’t know the name, but you’ve scene him in a role or two. He was in Band of Brothers (awesome!) and the series Boomtown (never saw it).
He was also supposed to be in the new ABC series called Scoundrels. But he got fired 3 days into filming.
Why?
Because he wouldn’t do steamy sex scenes with a co-star.
You see, McDonough is a devout Catholic. Rumor has it, the scenes stretched the actor’s principles (based on his faith). So the scenes went too far for him.
It seems ABC knew what he was unwilling to film when they contracted McDonough. In fact, they accommodated him while he played a role in Season 5 of Desperate Housewives.
Now I know there is always more to a story (no pun intended). Still, I am encouraged that there are some principled talents in Hollywood. This stand has cost him $1 million for playing the role.
Of course, it begs the question of why he is okay playing a killer or murdering in certain roles and not sex? I don’t know the answer to that. Perhaps, there was a context to those characters or those stories that communicated certain truths he was happy to help move along. Maybe the scenes in Scoundrels were just pointless sex that added no value to the story or characters. Who knows?
Still, I am encouraged by this glimmer of principle in Hollywood.
I know this, it would be very hard to be an actor. It’s hard to be in any business. There are always gray areas that challenge who you are.
Will you stretch the truth to make the sale?
Will you leave out a detail to get the contract?
Will you do the sex scene to get paid?
We always have to ask ourselves if what we are doing represents who we want to be, in some way.
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sex is real,the thing people forget about it is that its hard to fake sex on film.Orson wells said the two things that should never be done in film are praying and sex .You wouldn’t kill someone literally on film or t.v and get away with it .Another thing acting is about being emotionally naked not literally naked.To alot its and invasion of privacy and actor should never feel the need to reveal all of themselves .Its about creating and illusion for some it is about religion .
For the most part though i think alot of actors/actresses shy away from it is because it can be very intrusive .I also think there is way to much emphasis on putting sex out there in todays film/tv business.Just for the sake of selling that person;as a product .That is the business of acting in a nut shell its about selling .Sometime believe in that artistic aspect which is about self expression truthfully simply . I always find it a bit suspect when and actor/actress is so quick to agree to do sex scenes.While at the same time be stifling in there performance of expressin the writers words truthfully
Good thoughts.
Getting back to the original question, if I may, at least part of the answer to why the principled, married actor will do a violence scene but not a sex scene, is fairly obvious: first ofall, there may be something to the idea that we tend to take the presence of violence more for granted, in various forms, than we do sex. That being said, I think it is worth noting that the actor is not only PORTRAYING something, he is also DOING something; and while everyone know that the violence is fake, only certain elements of sex scenes can fake. At the very least, he is still making out with another woman, and he may well feel that that would be inappropriate for him to do, particularly as a married man who is committed to his wife. He could be doing it to honor God, our his wife, or both. This is, of course, a very unusual (though by no means unheard of) stance for a successful Hollywood actor to take. But then again, how usual is it for successful Hollywood actors to have successful, lasting marriages?
Good comments. Thanks!
Ha! Good one!
I agree!
I never said God isn’t real. I’m agnostic. But I have questions concerning the books of the Bible, philosophical conceptions of God, and people’s feelings of certainty regarding what may or may not lie behind the metaphysical curtain.
If there’s a God of a personal sort I kind of imagine Him as bigger than any one holy book or any one “transcendent experience” (such as occur to people in different religions and situations). If there is such a God, then I imagine He allows for us to seek the best in every person and every book. I also imagine that this God remains a Deus Abscondus, a hidden deity. And so I follow the via negativa, and apophatic spirituality, seeking God by asking the most heartfelt and most intellectually rigorous questions, not by attempting to imagine inspired inerrant answers and inspired inerrant Bible interpretations. I also think that intelligence involves recognizing the difference between things you know and things you don’t know. If you don’t know something at all, or even if you are uncertain, then that’s what you are, you’re without knowledge of such a thing or you’re uncertain. But a lot of religious people claim that “belief” is superior to that kind of intellectual honesty. Telling people I “believed” when I really didn’t know or was uncertain, eventually lost its appeal for me, especially after I began studying a host of miracles and experiences of people from all over the world, and human sociology and psychology, and continued reading different interpretations of the Bible, and of God in philosophy, etc.
Ed…the first ones free! A little drug pusher joke there.
Yes, you are correct, Christians are human.
I have a saying that I think applies:
Just because people are jerks, doesn’t mean God isn’t real. I think we could also add “weak” in there to adapt it to your points.
Okay, I need to take a hit of Jesus now.
I will say that in the realm of testimonies I know of people who left baser bodily addictions to sex, alcohol and drugs (or even in certain cases left hard rock and roll for softer contemporary Christian music, though today’s Christians have their rock and their salvation too), and who left either one or several of those things in order to read the Bible and be with other people who held a strong certainty in their beliefs concerning God and special revelation in the Bible.
Still later, some of those people either grew more moderate or even left the fold, but did not return to their first addictions (sex, alcohol, drugs).
Those stories reminded me of cases of drug treatment therapy in which a person is given a drug substitute that is less addictive than the original, switching heroin for methadone, and then finally getting clear of methadone. I’m just saying that cycles of change do not always end with finding the Bible, and I have read people’s testimonies on that matter.
I have also read about people who were devout believers, who believed in the relationship between themselves and Jesus in a highly personal sense, yet who could not break free of their addictions, or who could not fight the temptation, from A. A. Allen (died addicted to drugs and alcohol, but was known as a famous faith healer and claimed he was not addicted) to Jimmy Swaggart to Jim Bakker. And I’m sure there’s people who are converted and love Jesus but are overcome by various tempting addictions none the less, regardless of how much they believe and trust in Jesus and claim His promises. I recall reading a report from a hotel in which the Southern Baptist Convention was being held and the number of rooms that ordered porn on their TVs. Porn remains a temptation to Christians.
But like I said, aggression is something that is not really focused on as a sin in Christianity. Men are supposed to rule over their wives and they are to obey. I have read testimonies by pastor’s wives in which they describe being verbally and even physically abused by their devout Christian husbands.
And I mention none of this in order to try and prove Christianity is “evil.” Only that Christians are human, like you and I, and not surrounded by extraordinary evidence of being sin conquerors. So I mention such things merely to level the playing field of discussion, not to disprove Christianity, but to shake up the pillar of superiority upon which some Christians put it. And I think you do the same thing in your own way, though maybe not as radically as I do. Like when you mention there are things you hate about Christianity. And like me, I bet people misjudge your own motives for raising such questions, and some think you are out to destroy Christian faith. I think we both agree that a world featuring more intelligent thoughtful Christians would be a better one all round.
I think my own words were meant in a more general dialogue fashion concerning cravings, addictions, and the like, but you transferred them into a “me/you” formula when you wrote, “You think I’m a PUSHER of my ‘religion’?”
So no, I wasn’t attempting any particular psychological analysis on you. I don’t know your story, and even if I did I’m sure I couldn’t know all of it, not having lived in in your shoes or through your eyes. At most we can speak in generalizations toward each others’ experiences, and even then we may not see the same parallels between different types of cravings or addictions, but we might see “some.”
The author of the article at the URL below compares addiction to pornography (for men) and romance novels (for women) with addiction to conservative religion. Though there are any number of addictions one might add to such a list.
http://new.exchristian.net/2010/04/pornography-of-religions.html
However, I suspect that a craving for aggression and violence in various forms is the most accepted craving in our culture. We trot from watching people tackling each other on a football field, grunting with aggression, to a movie or game in which people are fighting or shooting each other, and then watch crime shows on TV involving murders, and watch the news which headlines murders and disasters, each day.
Even internet debates can escalate out of all proportion, people tossing verbal hand grenades at one another, and thinking nothing of it, in fact there’s Christians who not only justify but intentionally provoke and relish such exchanges.
On the other hand, I do think there are ways of handling discussions even of loaded ideas, that involve less verbal aggression and violence. I also think that even after verbal hand grenades have gone off, there should remain a chance at forgiveness and starting discussions over, perhaps after a break. I don’t hold any past verbal aggression against anyone, not in perpetuity.
— are you inferri—
That link is quite a “straw man” argument.
Song that I am a PUSHER of my ‘religion’ like a drug dealer?
There is, of course, the possibility that I actually believe this stuff, have experienced deep personal change, and had a spiritual enlightenment that has brought much peace and healing.
I didn’t know you were fighting an addiction. Personally, I haven’t had sex for so long that if I were to touch myself only air would come out. (Old Bill Hicks joke.)
Never had a violence addiction? Isn’t that like a fish saying, “I’m not addicted to water, honest!” Try living for a day without violence, anger, arguments, dissension, resentments, and without ritualized violence such as the cross or necessity of blood sacrifice, and without atheletes tackling one another, or the animal planet station with animals stalking and pouncing on each other, or without car crashes, car chases, hatred, or anything like violence on TV, heard on radio, read in newspapers, read online, or seen in a movie. No violent films (the code word is “ACTION” movies). Not even three stooges flicks. Try it. We’re soaking in violence, even in song lyrics and in some forms of angry musical beats. So you have to listen to light melodic harp music instead.
If you had THAT much porn on tap 24-hours a day you’d probably grow a bit innured to it as well.
Male children especially understand and get into violence long before they get into porn.
Yes, sex can be addictive. But it’s an industry and you have to pay for it. Violence is everywhere in everything and practically for free. You can rent the most violent movies from your local library for free. Or view photos of the most violent atrocities in history and photography books and in video documentaries. You see endless documentaries about killers and conquerors. Hitler movies, King Fu flicks, boxing flicks, space operas, car crashes. They can’t make a movie or TV show without violence it seems, including soap operas and Desperate Housewives where people are poisoned betrayed or gunned down.
I’m just saying. We live in a culture where violence surrounds us like the ocean and nobody admits they’re fish when it comes to the stuff.
Hmmm…
Well, it is easy to blame ‘American’ culture for things like this. But there are plenty of foreign films that I have seen that are absolutely packed with violence (a few Bollywood films come to mind).
Personally, sex scenes are difficult for me personally. Mainly because I have a huge background of porn addiction and it doesn’t take much for my mind to go crazy. And this has a way of affecting how I treat my wife (in a negative way).
But I have never had a violence addiction. Watching violent movies doesn’t tempt me to download violent scenes into the wee hours of the night.
Not sure why it is different for me. But it is.
I agree, TV and movie scenes of love making, kissing and tender touches above and beneath the covers make people more uncomfortable than seeing people loudly argue or commit acts of extreme violence against one another.
Why is that? Is it because our culture, raised on the Bible and nightly news and enormous expenditures on pro-active “defense” takes violence for granted?
Every night on TV you can see way more murders than take place in your city each week. You can see constant arguments and wars as well in which huge numbers of people slaughter each other.
Young and old men watch the war and violence and go, “cool,” didja see his head blow off? Kids any age are exposed to that, and it becomes second nature, part of our culture. Women on the the other hand don’t usually prefer such films, but they don’t prefer outright porn either. They usually want something romantic, maybe with some tension, suspense, and arguments, or mixed with a touch of comedy.
Maybe it’s the testosterone. Maybe it’s the Bible, or the nightly news, and/or the military industrial complex. But men take violence for granted like it doesn’t affect us or our children. It’s the AMERICAN way.
Speaking of actors and things they won’t do . . .
I wonder if there are nudist actors who refuse to do scenes with their clothes on?
Buddhist actors who refuse to play the part of soldiers scourging Christ and nailing him to the cross?
Ultra fundamentalist actors who will only appear in Bible story productions?
All I have to say to the actor who refused to do a love scene . . . Do it for the LADIES! Men already have their violent addictions pampered to.
I agree, TV and movie scenes of love making, kissing and tender touches above and beneath the covers make people more uncomfortable than seeing people loudly argue or commit acts of extreme violence against one another.
Why is that? Is it because our culture, raised on the Bible and nightly news and enormous expenditures on pro-active “defense” takes violence for granted?
Every night on TV you can see way more murders than take place in your city each week. You can see constant arguments and wars as well in which huge numbers of people slaughter each other.
Young and old men watch the war and violence and go, “cool,” didja see his head blow off? Kids any age are exposed to that, and it becomes second nature, part of our culture. Women on the the other hand don’t usually prefer such films, but they don’t prefer outright porn either. They usually want something romantic, maybe with some tension, suspense, and arguments, or mixed with a touch of comedy.
Maybe it’s the testosterone. Maybe it’s the Bible, or the nightly news, and/or the military industrial complex. But men take violence for granted like it doesn’t affect us or our children. It’s the AMERICAN way.
Speaking of actors and things they won’t do . . .
I wonder if there are nudist actors who refuse to do scenes with their clothes on?
Buddhist actors who refuse to play the part of soldiers scourging Christ and nailing him to the cross?
Ultra fundamentalist actors who will only appear in Bible story productions?
All I have to say to the actor who refused to do a love scene . . . Do it for the LADIES! Men already have their violent addictions pampered to.