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Interview: Street Fighter's New M. Bison - Neal McDonough

by Alex Billington
February 26, 2009

When it comes to the cast of the upcoming Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, while I do certainly think Kristin Kreuk is absolutely gorgeous, I have the most respect for Neal McDonough. He's an actor who (I personally believe) hasn't really been used to his full potential over the past years, but has still appeared in numerous unforgettable roles from "Band of Brothers" to Minority Report and beyond. I luckily was given the opportunity to talk with Neal last week in promotion of Street Fighter and was very excited going into this interview. Given that it finally hits theaters this weekend, I thought I'd put this up today.

Watch our interview with Neal McDonough:

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The video portion of the interview was shot using my Flip Mino camera. The full transcript will be posted at a future point. As you can tell, Neal really just loves his job, and is more than happy to continue taking on smaller roles and beefier gigs like this (even though I think he deserves better). Unfortunately the new Street Fighter movie isn't that great, but at least it's got Neal to help ease the pain. As he explains in the interview, he may not look like the classic M. Bison (see here), but he's definitely just as sinister in spirit. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li hit theaters everywhere this weekend, starting on February 27th.

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Related categories: Hype, Interviews

Film Adventurer Paul

I love his work too. I really don't know why he hasn't at least been given a decent shot in a leading man role yet. If he really does turn out to be Cap America I, for one, will become much more excited about that project than I probably am now.
Darunia

Movie looks horrible, Byson looks laughable, and the fact that he says the 1st movie was great, speaks volumes. And this guy is no Lead material, so leave him out of Captain America.
Cody

!? No lead material, you obviously didnt see band of brothers. I too respect him, he just seems so left out of the picture sometimes. They need to give him like a lead role as a legbreaker or some mafia enforcer hed be perfect and he has that scary motherfucker feeling to him. About captain america I just dont know it could be a complete disaster move or it could match him perfectly. I didnt read the comic so dont know.
Voice of Reason

Unless he's doing a biopic of Steve mcQueen—and thats only cause he could pull off THE LOOK of the part—I have no interest in seeing this guy in ANY leading role that isnt that of the movies villain. I seriously dont think this guy has what it takes and no matter how decent he was in "Band of Brothers" his career path and choice of roles past and present speak volumes. I just dont see this guy "evolving" in hollywood unless he pulls something phenomenal out of his ass because Street Fighter isnt going to start the bidding wars anytime soon. ......now, a moment of silence for Raul Julia and the horrible role he went out on......
L

I loved Band of Brothers and I loved Neal in it, but it didn't have lead material on it for him. For the time being, I will just laugh at his casting of Bison
Daniel

i'm not completely sure, but i think he's trying to put a "fresh" version out. hahaha.
Chris

Raul Julia at least looked the way M. Bison should. While the movie may have been a B-movie classic, that isn't all his fault. While Neil McDonaugh may be a fairly decent actor, removing Bison's costume and putting him in a buisness suit. Pass
Gil C.

Seems the studio is dumping it with no expectation of success as it`s only in 1000 theaters compared to 3000 for a wide release. I haven`t seen one tv commercial yet and I watch prime time tv every day almost.
Superchyle

I see comercials for this movie abotu 10 times daily no lie so i dont know what ur watching ?
wassssssuuuuuupppppppp

I really like the guy. He's not a bad actor and has been given some crap parts but I'm not sure he could pull off a huge lead unless it was a villain which of course is still under the hero. And I've never seen a commercial either actually.
Cody

They need to do a story just about a bad guy like a pulp fiction type deal and he would be the lead badass. Just imagine this guy getting seriously pissed at a buncha cops and opening a can a whoopass...but yeah he could never play a good guy.
http://movies.iconocritic.com/ peloquin

His explanation of the character of Captain America is very interesting. The epiphany that he does it because no one else can even though he always sees the world destroy itself anyways is a great way to look at that character. I gained some more respect for him after this interview...though please stay away from Desperate Housewives, that show is waaaaay past it's prime.
Lilly

Neal is a great, great underrated actor and I hope he finds a project that will take him to the next level. He is always so gracious in his interviews and is always enthusiastic about any project he is in. Even if he knows it might not be good, he always makes the best of it. I do fear that the hatred that Street Fighter is receiving may hurt him for awhile and his roles as Bison and as Dave Williams in Desperate Housewives are going to typecast him in villainous roles which would be unfortunate. I would really love to see him as a good guy again like in Band of Brothers and Tin Man. Don't know if I want to see him as Captain America, but quite a few people have mentioned him as a perfect Baird from Gears of War, that may be a better fit for him.
Q

i honestly like the new approach to bison. even though hes not wearing the traditional costume, judging by the clips hes gonna be a bad ass m*********r. thats something that raul julias bison didnt have. yeah he had the look and the acting was good too but you gotta admit he was a lil bit of a wuss. i mean he got ass whooped by chun li and wasnt much of match for guile until he got that electromagnetic shit in him. I dont know raul julia just wasnt scary enough for me. but it looks like neal will be though. according to michael clarke duncan neal's bison is gonna be a real cold hearted dude which is the core of bisons character. ill just have to wait and see.
Zach

i saw it in theaters possibly one of the worst films ive yet to waste money on in the past 3 years there's a reason RottenTomatoes gave it 4% i havent squirmed so much in my seat since i was forced to watch REPO: The Genetic Opera
dexter

I really like his performance in Desperate Housewives, funny and weird.