Tom Hanks put 'Band of Brothers' stars in their place during boot camp 'mutiny', Neal McDonough reveals
"Band of Brothers" star Neal McDonough recalled how Tom Hanks put the show's cast in their place during the grueling boot camp that they underwent prior to filming.
McDonough, 60, co-starred in the hit 2001 HBO war drama miniseries, which was executive produced by Hanks, 70, and Steven Spielberg, 79.
"Band of Brothers" told the story of the real-life soldiers of Easy Company, part of the U.S. Army’s 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, as they fought their way across Europe during World War II.
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During a recent interview with Fox News Digital, McDonough recalled how the actors rebelled during the production's intense boot camp before Hanks arrived by helicopter and delivered a powerful message that they "never forgot."
"About five days into boot camp, there was a mutiny," McDonough said on the red carpet at Televerse 26 in Los Angeles.
"All of a sudden, my teeth are knocked out by a .30 cal and I broke my toe, and a slew of other guys was getting tortured," he continued.
"The American guys really loved it," he added with a laugh. "But, there was this mutiny going on. They were like, 'This isn't what we signed up for.'"
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"All of a sudden, this helicopter shows up in the middle of our Army base and out walks Tom Hanks with his beard down here and his ‘Cast Away’ hair," McDonough recalled, referencing Hanks' starring role in the survival drama "Cast Away."
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"And he got us all attention, and he says, ‘Look, we all owe it to everyone in Easy Company, and everyone in World War II, to work our hardest because they gave their lives for our freedoms. The least we can do is work our tails off to tell the truth as hard as we can so we give honor to those men and women,'" McDonough remembered of Hanks.
McDonough told Fox News Digital that the two-time Oscar winner's words completely shifted the cast's mindset toward portraying "Band of Brothers'" real-life heroes.
"Telling you after that, we were all brainwashed," he said before clarifying, "I'm not sure brainwashed is the right word."
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"Where we all realized Tom was right," McDonough continued. "They lived, breathed, and died for what we have this day, freedom. None of us forgot about that, and as soon as the show came out, we realized Tom was right the whole time."
"He knew it was going to be a massive hit. Stephen knew it would be a big hit. We were just lughead actors who were doing our jobs. And then when it came out, and it was the hit that it became, and it is still 25 years later, it just boggles my mind how fortunate every single one of us were to be cast in the show."
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McDonough played 1st Lt. Lynn "Buck" Compton, a real-life platoon leader in Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Compton fought in major WWII campaigns, including D-Day and Operation Market Garden and was wounded during the fighting in the Netherlands.
"Band of Brothers" also starred Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston, Donnie Wahlberg, David Schwimmer, Michael Cudlitz and Scott Grimes, while future stars including Tom Hardy, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy appeared in smaller roles.
The 10-part miniseries was based on historian Stephen E. Ambrose’s 1992 nonfiction book, "Band of Brothers" and was created by Hanks and Spielberg, who had previously collaborated on the acclaimed 1998 World War II film "Saving Private Ryan." Writer Erik Jendresen also helped lead the series adaptation.
Hanks also directed episode five, titled "Crossroads," and had a brief, uncredited cameo.
"Band of Brothers," which premiered in September 2001, earned widespread critical acclaim and received multiple awards, including seven Emmys and a Golden Globe.
The series was extensively praised for its gritty realism and attention to historical detail. The boot camp that the actors underwent was specifically intended to help them move, behave and bond more convincingly as soldiers.
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While speaking with Fox News Digital, McDonough recalled how the "brutal" boot camp was led by retired U.S. Marine Corps captain, Vietnam War veteran, actor and longtime Hollywood military technical adviser Dale Dye.
McDonough explained that the boot camp was particularly more challenging for some actors than others.
"I'm a knucklehead. I love that kind of stuff. Those two weeks felt like three months for a lot of guys," he said. "And it was tough."
McDonough told Fox News Digital that Dale intentionally "allowed himself to be the common enemy" to the actors during the series' production.
"We all hated his guts, because he pushed us all to the brink," he recalled of Dye. "And it wasn't until about a quarter of the way through filming that we realized he was putting on an act so we could all gel together as a unit."
"There are a few men on this planet that I love like I love Dale Dye because he allowed himself to be that guy and 'Band of Brothers' would not be ‘Band of Brothers’ were not for him,'" McDonough added.
In additional to serving as the senior military advisor for "Band of Brothers," Dye also played Col. Robert F. Sink, the real-life commander of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the series. Dye is one of Hollywood’s leading military advisers and has previously worked on movies including "Platoon" and "Saving Private Ryan" and TV shows including "The Pacific" and "Masters of the Air."
Despite the cast's eventual gratitude for Dye's dedication and methods, the physically demanding boot camp took a toll on the actors. McDonough recalled that Dye even considered suspending the training after several actors suffered injuries. The "Minority Report" star remembered that he was hit in the mouth with a ".30 cal" shortly after.
"I heard him say, ‘If one more guy gets hurt, then I might shut this whole thing down.’ That afternoon, I got hit," McDonough said. "We're enveloping this one house. Guy comes out with a .30 cal, boom, smashes my teeth, blood all the way down here."
McDonough remembered that his co-star Shane Taylor, who played medic Eugene "Doc" Roe, became incredulous when he asked him for medical treatment after the injury.
"I said, ‘Doc, get over here, stitch me up,'" McDonough said.
McDonough recalled Taylor replying, "'I'm not a doctor, I'm an actor,'" to which he said he responded, "'I don't care, just stitch me up.'"
"So he stitches me up in front of everybody, and then two or three days later, it's so infected, that Dale's like, ‘You need to go to the hospital.’ And I knew he was sweating," McDonough said. "But at the time, I was just gung ho, because of what Tom said."
McDonough recalled that he went to the hospital, where he provided his character's name and information instead of his own.
"I knew it was socialized medicine, I knew. But I needed to have ‘Lynn Compton’ on that report, not ‘Neal McDonough,’" he said.
McDonough told Fox News Digital that the doctor who treated him was horrified when he saw his infected mouth.
"The doctor's like, 'Oh gosh, that's awful, this is terrible,'" he recalled. "So they shaved it all off, they cleaned it up, stitched me up."
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The "Yellowstone" alum told Fox News Digital that he visited Dye afterward. He remembered Dye becoming emotional when presented with McDonough's hospital paperwork, realizing how deeply the actor had committed to his portrayal of Compton.
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"I get back to the barracks at four o'clock in the morning, I knock on his door, he's sitting there waiting. I put it down there [and said] ‘Sir.’ And he looks at it, and he looked at me and tears welled up in Dale's eyes," McDonough said.
"And I knew that I did a right thing for Easy Company and the whole movie, and after that, we became like that," he continued. "But that was probably the most difficult moment of the boot camp for me."
McDonough met the real Compton prior to filming the show and the two developed a friendship that lasted until the former soldier's death in 2012. He previously described Compton as "another father figure" in his life, and said he nicknamed his son Morgan "Little Buck" in Compton’s honor. McDonough also attended Compton’s 90th birthday celebration and later gave a eulogy at his funeral.
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While speaking with Fox News Digital, McDonough explained that "Band of Brothers" also had a special place in his heart because he met his longtime wife Ruvé Robertson while filming the show in the United Kingdom.
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McDonough and the South African model married in 2003 and share five children, including Morgan, Catherine, London, Clover and James.
"The greatest thing about ‘Band of Brothers’ other than getting to play Buck Compton and work for Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks is I got to meet the love of my life Ruvé the very first night I got into town on St. Patrick's Day, 2000," he said. "Five kids later, 26 seasons later, I love her more today than I did yesterday and I love her tomorrow more than I did today."