"Put Lee Marvin and CAPTAIN AMERICA together and you get me..."

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

42 year old character actor Neal McDonough sure does talk an awful lot with First Showing about the character of CAPTAIN AMERICA for someone who is not involved with Marvel's big upcoming tentpole... And he brought up the subject first you'll see...

Does he know something? Has he held early talks with Marvel for the role of Steve Rogers? I certainly find his back tracking when asked directly "was that a hint?" to McDonough's mention of the character. Like I say, he brought it up and then talked a lot about the character (as if he has been thinking this for a while) and then gave us a "we'll see". If he's not involved in talks with Marvel, he has certainly done his best to get his name out there. And the more you think about it, the more he is a pretty damn good choice. Of course, visually he looks a lot like the character. Almost as if it could have been based on him. He is a well built guy, believable as an action hero. As FS point out, he has done an awful lot of War roles in the past (BAND OF BROTHERS, FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS), so he fits straight into the early era of the character. And he's a great actor first which like Robert Downey Jr and Christian Bale, is a huge, HUGE, plus. The only stumbling block is that he is not really that big a name outside of the industry. Not a star... but that shouldn't matter. The more I look at him, the more I like this choice. And no I don't think he is too old (around the same age as Downey Jr) and CAPTAIN AMERICA feels like he should be a little older than the rest. And yes, he does have screen presence.