The Last Rodeo star Neal McDonough and director Jon Avnet wanted to bring their own histories and emotions to the bull riding answer to Rocky. The film, which McDonough co-wrote before bringing on the experienced filmmaker Jon Avnet onto the project, focuses on a former rodeo star who is shaken by the discovery that his grandson is afflicted with a potentially fatal prognosis. Desperate to provide the money needed for the necessary surgery, Joe Wainright reenters the sport that almost broke him in a mission that forces him to confront his past losses and mistakes.

It's an emotional movie for Neal McDonough, an emotional reminder that the actor has more to offer than his the heart of The Last Rodeo, how it reflected the challenges McDonough has faced in his own life, and the importance of getting the bull riding just right.

How The Last Rodeo Became A Bull Riding Rocky

"What Jon Did Best Was Pull Out All The Emotional Moments For The Characters"

The Last Rodeo largely follows the "sports underdog" archetypal story, a tone that it embraces to good effect when McDonough's Joe has to get back into shape. Chuckling at the recollection of punching haybills like Rocky trains with frozen meat, McDonough revealed that it "was all Jon's idea. The whole idea came from thinking what would happen to me if anything ever happened to my wife, Ruve. I started writing, and then we started building."

After teaming up with Derek Presley to craft a screenplay, the pair brought it to Jon and told him to "make it his own. What Jon did to this film by making it his own, by having those old man Rocky moments, by having the relationships between [Joe and Sally] be so fractured... what Jon did the best was pull out all the emotional moments for the characters. That, to me, is the calling card of this film."

Reading the script, Avnet noted that he found the film to be "something very unique. I thought Neil had made a really brilliant choice, which is that he is character is not a man of faith. He lost his faith. Neil is very religious, so to do this made it much more interesting. To see his journey and why he lost that faith, how he could reacquire it, I thought it was a brilliant conceit." From Avnet's perspective, he put emphasis on specific elements of the story when he ed the project.

"One was the father/daughter stuff," Avnet explained. "I had worked with Sarah Jones before, and I thought she and Neil together would be explosive. She was great. Second was Mykelti Williamson, whom Neil and I have worked with many times, [that relationship informed the performances]. Neil's character suffered a loss, and in doing so, he gave up."

"Joe became selfish, he became self-indulgent. He hurt his family, he hurt his friends. His journey back from that was something I thought could be very emotional, and that I could express in the action. That's something I've always wanted to do in an action film, to have that emotional element to it. Not just the guns or the fighting, or in this case, the bull riding. I thought that was very exciting."

Grabbing Life By The Horns In The Last Rodeo

"Neil And I Really Wanted To Get The Bull Riding Right"

The Last Rodeo is very much a celebration of bull riding, which it acknowledges as a dangerous sport but also lionizes as an impressive physical feat. "This was a world I knew little or nothing about," Avnet noted about the sport, acknowledging this was fresh territory for him. But that lack of experience was actually an appeal of the project. "I always like to learn! [PBR CEO Sean Gleason] was one of my many teachers. Neal and I really wanted to get the bull riding right."

I really hope people will come out and it, because it's the kind of movie that you'll just enjoy on the big screen.

The dedication to getting the film's portrayal of bull riding hung over both filmmakers, with McDonough recalling how "we were at the USA Film Festival in Dallas, and Sean and his wife Candace sat right next to me and my wife. I'm sweating bullets. Sean has been the head of the PBR since 1997. If he doesn't like this film, we're toast." Luckily, McDonough was greeted by Gleason after the screening, who embraced him and called The Last Rodeo his new favorite film.

At least part of that has to be credited to Avent, who tackled the actual sport of bull-riding from a close-up and tight lens. "Jon worked on making the bull riding look authentic," McDonough noted, complimenting the director and his approach. Avnet noted that "one thing that was very important to me was — I really wanted to do this movie for the big screen. I really hope people will come out and it, because it's the kind of movie that you'll just enjoy on the big screen."

Part of that, Avnet was quick to say, was just the natural result of having Neal McDonough in the lead role. Comparing the actor to the likes of Jimmy Stewart or John Wayne, Avnet explained that "I want people to see Neil as I saw him. He has those qualities where he can express so much by doing so little. His pain is etched in his face. You don't have to say that much, and it's so authentic."

Neal McDonough On The Internal Fuel Behind The Last Rodeo

"I Have Worked My Butt Off To Make Sure The Audience Is Never Let Down With My Performances"

Neal McDonough has been a fixture of film and television for years, often bringing a charming but menacing aura to Tulsa King, Arrow, Justified, and Yellowstone. Despite that affinity for exploring more villainous characters, it's notable that The Last Rodeo doesn't have an obvious villain. While there are characters who antagonize Joe and stand in his way, there's a certain amount of humanization that ensures the film never feels unrealistic.

Reflecting on the decision not to give the film an overt antagonist or villain, McDonough explained that "to me, the villain is [Joe]'s past. How can I face that villain? How can I overcome my selfishness after I lost my wife, now that I'm about to lose my grandson too?" This was an especially personal arc for Neal McDonough, who reflected on how he went through "personal stuff in my own life" when he was fired from the ABC series Scoundrels in 2010 for refusing to film sex scenes out of respect for his faith and his wife.

McDonough recounted how "I didn't have a job for a couple of years after that, and I lost everything. I drank myself silly and made it all about me. I asked God, 'Why have you forgotten all about me?' I realized in that second that I had made everything about me, and it wasn't about serving Him or serving my family. One minute later, I get a phone call, and it's Graham Yost and Jon Avent, saying 'Hey, heard you're going through some hard stuff, we want you to be the bad guy in Justified this year."

That call reinvogated McDonough, who told them he'd be there and that "I'm coming hard. Ever since that moment, I have worked my butt off to make sure the audience is never let down with my performances." This helped reinvigorate McDonough, who followed that fan-favorite performance on Justified with a host of other fan-favorite performances across various networks and genres. That drive continues to fuel the actor, which impressed Avnet on the set of The Last Rodeo even after years of working together.

"He understands this character," Avnet said. "He understood that pain was what was pushing him. Having worked with Neil and knowing what he's capable of, I'm still surprised by how committed he was. It wasn't surprising how good he was. He always was, and he did everything to help others. In many ways, he's the opposite of this character. Joe is so self-centered and so self-involved. I knew the pain Neil had in his life, and that he could take to the audience on this journey through it."

Proving his director's point, McDonough was quick to shift the spotlight back onto Avnet. "I'm really good at being a piece of clay. I want to have a great director mold that clay into perfection. That makes me so happy, and there's no other dude on this planet who does it like Avnet for me. You can say what you want about me, but this is teamwork." It's a testament to their collaboration that the pair couldn't stop complimenting each other, a loving spirit that's at the heart of The Last Rodeo from top to bottom.

The Last Rodeo is playing in theaters now.

Source: Screen Rant Plus