Matthew McConaughey: “I choose the roles that scare me, that make me sweat”

On November 25, 2022, on the occasion of the publication of his autobiographical essay Greenlights at Seuil editions (translation Héloïse Esquié), actor, producer and screenwriter Matthew McConaughey returned to Arnaud Laporte’s microphone on the major stages of his extraordinary career.

How many lives does Matthew McConaughey have? Part of the answer can be found in the name he himself gave to the phenomenon on which his career was based, “McConaissance”, which designates a 180° turn in the career of an actor.

Moving forward is a mystery, but looking back is an exact science. Matthew McConaughey

Route of a phoenix

We thought he would be a Hollywood foppish in perpetuity, but he turned out to be a magnetic actor with constantly renewed power. Matthew McConaughey’s career is indeed far from linear. After a promising debut in front of the cameras of Richard Linklater and Joël Schumacher, the man nicknamed the “Paul Newman of the 1990s” experienced a striking rise in Hollywood then switched to the industry of tangy romantic comedies – with lots of sweets, muscles and mounted pieces – which marked his career during the first decade of the 2000s.

Contrary to the expected fates of the eternal Ken he played, the Texan returned to the taste for risk at the turn of the 2010s and began his famous “McConnaissance”:

The magic is when I get off the beaten track, get lost and am able to find my way back on my own. This is where I feel a spiritual success, an awakening. Matthew McConaughey

The Lincoln Defense by Brad Furman marks a first milestone in his transformation, very quickly confirmed by his reunion with Richard Linklater for the black comedy Bernie then by his performance in magic mike by Steven Soderbergh. From now on, the most prestigious scenario writers claim it. Alternately, he embodies a perverse predator in Killer Joe of William Friedkin, a criminal on the run on the banks of the Mississippi in mud of Jeff Nichols or even a financial guru in The wolf of Wall Street by Scorsese. In 2014, his ascent took him to the stars ofInterstellar by Christopher Nolan.

Since then, his filmography includes collaborations with many leading directors such as Gus Van Sant, Guy Ritchie, Steven Knight and Harmony Korine.

Gambling as a rite of passage

Metamorphosis is an art that Matthew McConaughey practices on the scale of his career but also on the scale of each of his films. For his role as a dying cowboy in Dallas Buyers Club in 2013, he lost 22 kilos. A dazzling transformation for a hypnotic performance which earned him the Oscar for best actor. For him, the game is like an almost shamanic rite of passage. During the interview, the actor tells us about his preparation ritual before going on stage:

I always try to find some kind of music or rhythm. Sometimes I whistle, sometimes I dance, sometimes I hum, sometimes I just tap my chest. It’s something that stays in my head and causes my diaphragm to drop, giving my voice more resonance and allowing me to be more relaxed. I speak more through my body than through my throat. Matthew McConaughey

The actor also made his reputation on the small screen thanks to his performance in the cult series True Detective. He plays Inspector Rust Cohle, a Dostoyevskian and nihilistic policeman obsessed with a quest for the absolute that he projects into his investigation into the murder of a prostitute. A role to its disproportion, in the continuity of the augurs, prophets, preachers or poets that it often embodies. So many characters on the fringes of civilization who impose his magnetic presence on the screen and reveal the power of his game.

I like risk. I like to go into the dark corners of my own life. I choose the roles that scare me, that make me sweat. Matthew McConaughey

Its news:

• his autobiographical essay Greenlights is still available at Editions du Seuil (translated by Héloïse Esquié)

Sounds played during the show

• “Far from any road” by The Handsome Family on the album “Singing Bones” (2003).
• “LA Woman” by The Doors on the album of the same name (1971). Label: Electra Records.
• “Ai Du” by Ali Farka Toure and Ry Cooder on the album “Talking Timbuktu” (1994).
• Excerpt from a scene from “The Wolf of Wall Street” by Martin Scorsese (2013)