fandomania | IAR interviews Neal about Captain America, Justified, Green Arrow

Looks like Neal's reprising Dum Dum (includes explanation of the jump to present day) and possibly Green Arrow.

Hey Neal, I wanted to follow up on something you just said.
You mentioned possibly appearing in the proposed Nick Fury film, which would
make a lot of sense since Dum Dum is Nick’s right-hand-man at S.H.I.E.L.D in
the comics. But since we last saw you in the WWII era of Captain America: The
First Avenger, how would your character end up in the present day (assuming
that is when the film will take place) fighting along side Sam Jackson’s Nick
Fury?

Neal McDonough: In the origin with Dum Dum, he got a small
portion of the super serum himself and he was actually the head of S.H.E.I.L.D.
until four or five years ago. So he aged really slowly. He aged quicker than
Nick and quicker than Steve Rogers did but he aged quite slowly. He was
chronologically frozen him self for ten years. So there are all kinds of stuff
that I’ve read in the comic books but who knows how they’re going to do it. I
know they are going to go back to WWII in Cap 2. You know in flashbacks but
past that I’m not sure. Also what would make me happier than a pig in poop
would be to be part of and see Sam Jackson as a ‘60s or ‘70s version of Nick
Fury. That would just be awesome. Hopefully we’ll get that one done soon. I
know Sam is very excited about it.

Was there ever any talk about reintroducing your character
in The Avengers?

McDonough: No, with The Avengers I think they wanted to go
with the core characters first and I have no problem with that. Just to be part
of the Marvel universe at all is such a blessing. It’s been fantastic. If I do
ten more of these or one more of these, I’ve already been part of Captain
America and that’s like a dream come true.

You also mentioned doing Captain America 2, what exactly is
the plan with that? In the middle of the first film there is a montage where
Captain America and the Howling Commandoes are fighting various enemies in a
series of different adventures, is the idea that the sequel would take place
within that sequence and essentially tell an unseen story that happened in the
context of the first film?

McDonough: Yeah the talk now is that they are going to
flashback to WWII and without going to much into, because I’m not supposed to
say too much at all, but whatever they do I guarantee you this … it’s going to
be an awesome movie. The villain is going to be crazy, and it will be really
terrific. The origin of Cap being in WWII is definitely paramount to the guys
over at Marvel.

Congratulations on joining the cast of Justified, are you
excited to begin working on the show?

McDonough: Oh I’m stoked. The best part about Justified is I
get to work with Graham Yost who wrote for me on Band of Brothers and obviously Boomtown. But I get to stay in town with Ruve (his wife) and the kids because we shoot
here in Los Angeles. You know a lot of shows are offering us to go all around
the world to do stuff but that’s not in our plan right now. We want to build
our family and if somebody shoots in Los Angeles, then we’re all for it. And if
it doesn’t shoot in Los Angeles then we’re probably not going to do it. You got
to take care of the most important thing in life and for us that is our family.
So thank God that Graham came along and offered us this. We’re very excited.

What can you tell me about the role you will be playing on
the series? He’s the show’s new villain, is that correct? I assume your
character will be squaring off with Timothy Olyphant’s Raylan Givens at some
point, right?

McDonough: Oh yeah, its beautiful and you know how much I
love playing my bad guys. This is one where I’m going to take over the crime
syndicate in this town in Kentucky and they have no idea what is coming. Graham wrote it as a real family guy who is just a businessman. And my business is …
well you’ll find out very soon what my business is but I’m going to take it
over. And yes, at some point Tim Olyphant and my self are going to go nose to
nose and we’ll see who wins that fight.

Finally, the Green Arrow is my favorite superhero of all
time and I thought you were perfectly cast to voice him in the DC Showcase
Animated short film that you worked on. I also think you would be a perfect
choice to play him in a live action film, has there ever been any serious
discussion about that? Is that something you would be interested in doing?

McDonough: Yeah that (animated short) was awesome wasn’t it?
Yeah we talked about a live action version but unfortunately the other two
green movies (Green Hornet, and Green Lantern) may have put a stop to it, who
knows? We’re not sure. But Green Arrow is a character that is just so funny,
and has such a dry sense of humor but is still a bad ass at the same time. I
think of all the green superheroes, and now offense but even Hulk included, I
think there is something about Green Arrow being such a smart ass and yet such
a big tough guy. He only uses arrows but the way he uses those arrows is pretty
amazing. I think it would be an awesome film to do and ultimately hopefully
we’ll get around to doing it.