by Neil Daniels
Aside from her obvious good looks and personality, what attracted McConaughey to Camila? What does McConaughey look for in a woman? ‘A sense of humour,’ he told the UK’s Metro newspaper in 2006. ‘Respect for themselves and respect for others and a certain amount of talent in whatever area they want to work in. Knowing what she does and doesn’t want. You’ve gotta have soul to be sexy. It’s more than a snapshot. When I see grace in a woman, that’s very sexy. You can tell by how someone moves or their rhythm.’
How does he cope with being a celebrity and going out in public? Some celebrities are closely guarded by bodyguards and assistants and either avoid going out in public or cause a scene with their entourage; others prefer to remain low key. McConaughey has learned how to carry himself in public. He explained this to Chud’s Devin Faraci: ‘…sometimes someone will walk up to me and I’ll say, “Not right now. I’m thinking.” Honestly. I’ll be working on something and someone will walk up to me and, not being rude, I’ll say, “Not right now, I’m eating.” Or, “I’m going to a movie.” Sometimes you have to remind people why you’re here. Like at the airport – I have to catch the flight. If they say you’re being rude, you say, “Wait, what are you doing here? Don’t you have to catch a flight too?” And then they laugh and you move on. But no, going out in public for me is something I’ve practiced and not ever will not do.’
His production company, j.k. livin, is based in Venice Beach, California with nine staff. His long time business partner Gus Gustawes was also on hand, as was John Chaney, his personal assistant of many years. McConaughey prefers to surround himself with trusted friends and associates rather than the usual ‘hangers on’ that are so prevalent in Hollywood. At this juncture, McConaughey was raking in around $8 million per film and his production company was making preparations for his next acting ventures, and for the forthcoming release of a small film called Surfer, Dude; the first film j.k. livin had made entirely in-house. In a profile of McConaughey in Texas Monthly in October 2008, journalist John Spong describes the offices in these terms: ‘With dark hardwood floors and exposed brick, the glassed-in offices looked down on an open lobby. The walls held framed script pages and large posters from McConaughey’s favourite movies – Dino De Laurentiis’s King Kong, S.R. Bindler’s Hands on a Hard Body, his own Sahara. A twenty-foot-tall screen on one side of the room showed a Cubs game.’
Surfer, Dude had a limited release in the US in September 2008 and went straight to DVD in most foreign countries. The film was co-produced by McConaughey who takes the title role of Steve Addington, a surfer who’s having a soul-searching existential crisis after he can’t catch a wave for over a month.
McConaughey spoke to Beth Accomando of KPBS about his reasons for producing the project: ‘As an actor I’m hired to show up, hit my mark, know my stuff; if it’s a big movie I work three months and I’m gone. There are movies that I’ve seen and I go, “Aahhh, that was better than I thought it was going to be.” But there are a lot of movies where, “Oh man there must be something on the cutting room floor that we’re never going to see in there.” So I was like I want to get into the pre-production of it, the production of it, and the post-production so at the end of the day I can look in the mirror and go, “Yup, now I got a big responsibility.” Like it or not like it, I know that I had my hands in the clay the whole time and I was responsible for a lot of it. I learned so much in this thing. I learned that I definitely don’t want to produce every movie that I’m a part of. It’s hard and it’s long. But it was stuff you can’t be taught; you can’t read it in a book.’
Directed by S.R. Bindler, who had made mostly music documentaries and commercials since making the 1996 documentary Hands on a Hard Body, the critically acclaimed Texan film, and co-starring Woody Harrelson, Surfer, Dude has long been forgotten about. Bindler and McConaughey have been friends since they sat next to each other in art class at high school in 1985. ‘He [Bindler] was already doing a lot of writing and a big movie buff,’ McConaughey said to Rebecca Murray of About.com: Hollywood Movies. ‘I wasn’t, and we became friends then and we started swapping out our weekends. On Friday night, he’d go out with me and we’d go party and on Saturday night I’d go to his place and we’d get some grub and then watch a movie. And so he started introducing me to films.’
The script was optioned in 1998, but then it had rewrites in 2004 and 2005 before McConaughey and Bindler came on board. They rewrote the script until they were both happy with it and then shopped it around LA. It was a tough film for the pair to finance. They had wanted to work together for a while but had to find a project that didn’t cost $40 million. They managed to scrape together the $6 million for this film and only had twenty-eight days to shoot it. It’s a low budget film as far as Hollywood is concerned. It’s almost like guerrilla-style filmmaking or something from student film – McConaughey understands that on films with tight schedules you spend less time in your trailer because you do a scene, go back to your trailer so the cameras can quickly be set up for the next scene. Because of the weather and the ambitious nature of the script, and with several locations, it meant there were a lot of camera setups in and around the Malibu area. Jimmy Skotchdopole, the producer, and also the location producer, were vital in helping them stick to the limited budget.
Bindler spoke to Collider’s Charlie Mihelich about the central theme that brought the cast and crew together: ‘Matthew and I grew up in the country and got to be around nature, and the central theme for me was what is the cost when nature goes away? Which is something we’re all going through right now.’
Trailers become a home away from home for many actors on set. ‘The unsaid rule for living in a trailer park is: If the door’s shut, don’t come a-knockin’,’ McConaughey explained to Details’ Bart Blasengame. ‘But if it’s open and you’re walkin’ by, feel free to say hello.’
Surfer, Dude has got the j.k. livin stamp all over it. McConaughey spoke to Rebecca Murray of About.com: Hollywood Movies about the company and his family’s part in the making of Surfer, Dude, which really was a family affair. ‘My brother Rooster helped out, my nephew helped out, my mom was always kind of there helping out. We had a lot of thank-yous to all of our family members because … it wasn’t a big studio project that we just had them bankrolling the thing. So this was more like door-to-door sales. We had to go run around town to try and get the money and then to get it made we had, get people to work for scale.’
McConaughey wanted the film to have a seventies feel it to. He wanted the joints that the characters smoke to be almost an extension of their hands, where nobody passed judgement. It was who they are. It’s a situation where if they don’t smoke they go a little crazy. It’s the antithesis of what most comedies do today which tend to be gross-out films or tongue-in-cheek comedies.
McConaughey spends most of the film shirtless. Was it a parody of the media’s seeming obsession with him having his shirt off all the time? ‘It’s sort of a wink, you know, to pop the bubble, and say “Guess what? Now I’ve had a whole movie to do it” and sort of get the joke,’ he said to Charlie Mihelich of Collider. ‘I found a character who I got to know for twenty-eight days, shooting wise, and surfing, and there was also reason behind it. It was not to paradise anything. I mean, the stuff about me being shirtless in the current culture came from working on this movie. It happened at this time. So we found a character who never wears a shirt and shoes. That’s nothing but a black and white bathing suit, which is kind of like a jail because there are no waves. That’s all part of the wink.’
Some people suggested that Surfer, Dude was McConaughey’s version of Ocean’s Eleven in that he’s just hanging out with his buddies such as Woody Harrelson or Texan country hero Willie Nelson. It was essentially a low budget film that McConaughey made with his friends and acquaintances, though in some respects it was more like Robert Altman’s Nashville than anything else.
‘Like, Woody (Harrelson) came in, and Willie (Nelson) came in, and all us lived…th
ere’s about sixteen trailers we had in a trailer park,’ McConaughey told Bullz-Eye’s Will Harris, ‘so it really felt like that old commune feeling that you got from the Altman films. We wanted that feeling where we woke up in the morning, and we drove just down the street, and we were on the set, which was the beach. And we came home after work, and everybody kinda congregated, laughed about the day, had a cocktail, ate some dinner, crashed, and got up and did it again. It was a real feeling of a traveling circus…so, yeah, that’s a fair description.’
It’s a very planet-friendly film and Harrelson and Nelson are proponents of environmentally friendly projects so they were keen to work on the project. They also liked the idea that Surfer, Dude is about a bunch of misfits. McConaughey and Bindler were not trying to preach any messages with the film, though. They liked the idea of an organic character who leads a very simple life in a complicated world. Their idea was to see what could happen to make his life complicated and this came in the form of taking away the wave. He’s not angry because of a family illness or anything, but because he can’t surf. It’s almost a throwback to 1980s goofball films such as Caddyshack where the characters are authentic and sincere, but they’re also misfits and somewhat naïve.
McConaughey hadn’t surfed before but when he began practicing for the film he really enjoyed it and went surfing a few times after filming was completed. He liked the idea that to surf there’s no membership card or club, you can just go and catch the waves. There’s something very free and earthly about it.
There is a scene in the film where McConaughey plays the didgeridoo naked; surely a homage to the 1999 incident where he was caught playing the bongos au naturel by the police after neighbours filed a noise complaint. McConaughey had been in Australia so he picked up a didgeridoo and started playing it. He thought it would be funny to add it to the film. It’s an odd instrument that is not very well-known in America, so he wanted to broaden its fan base.
The Los Angeles Times’ Daniel Ordona wrote: ‘The film is awash in doobies and breasts, clichéd cinematic language and clumsy exposition. It’s reminiscent of the stoner-culture movies of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s but without the naïve fun.’
Austin Chronicles’ Kimberley Jones was equally unenthused: ‘From Hands on a Hard Body to an 89-minute ogling of another hard body: It boggles the mind that eleven years after his engrossing documentary about an endurance competition to win a truck in Longview, Texas, filmmaker Bindler has channelled his talents into this regrettable comedy.’
The money McConaughey was making from films allowed him to extend j.k. livin – which he founded in 2008 – into other avenues such as music and lifestyle. On 18 February 2009, Ron Spaulding, the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Fontana, the independent distribution division of Universal Music Group, announced an exclusive deal with McConaughey for his indie record label, j.k. livin. ‘There is no question that Matthew McConaughey is one of today’s most popular personalities and successful entrepreneurs,’ Spaulding said. ‘He’s translated his simple, yet enthusiastic approach to life into his company j.k. livin and now his record label. We are thrilled to partner with him to bring j.k. livin’s music to not only his loyal fans worldwide, but to music lovers everywhere.’
McConaughey’s first signing was the reggae musician Mishka whom McConaughey first encountered randomly and then set about trying to track him down. He subsequently saw Mishka at the House of Blues on Sunset Blvd. His debut album Above the Bones was the first release from McConaughey’s label. The label’s biography read: ‘In 1993, Matthew McConaughey was filming Dazed and Confused, struggling with the passing of his father when he was overtaken by a saying that would soon change his life. That saying was “just keep livin” or “j.k. livin” as it’s now called. His father “Pop” is the man stencilled in the logo in remembrance of its origin. As life continued forward, he found that the j.k. livin approach to each day helped him navigate through the good times and bad, stay true to his ideals along the way and make the best out of this adventure we call life. j.k. livin is not a rulebook, it’s a lifestyle.’
That image of his father was the only image McConaughey had in mind for the brand’s logo. It is a silhouette of Pop, designed by one of McConaughey’s artist friends, in the last picture taken of him at Navarre Beach in Florida wearing his famed baby-blue shorts and hat.
McConaughey spoke about the success if the album Above the Bones and j.k.livin to Rebecca Murray of About.com: Hollywood Movies: ‘It held at number two on the reggae Billboard charts for seven weeks. We’re about to surpass the sales of the very first album that he had put out in a much shorter time. Mishka’s actually supposed to be here tonight. He played Surfrider Foundation yesterday. The brands on www.jklivinstore.com are selling great. We’re coming up with four new products this week. And the film production’s doing well. We’re just getting into TV. Sold two things to TV. We’re going have a couple of TV series’ that we’re working on.’
However, ties between Mishka and McConaughey would be quickly severed, as is often the case in the entertainment industry. ‘Initially, it was a big boost,’ Mishka said to Mike Voorheis of Star News in 2012. ‘I wasn’t signed to any label, and it was quite a struggle at the time. Matthew lost enthusiasm and got busy with other projects. You go so far and then they didn’t know what to do with me. That left me with my hands tied.’
McConaughey’s own choice in music reflects his passion for telling stories and travelling, absorbing new cultures and ways of life. He dug into the local Texan tales of country outlaw Willie Nelson, the inspired blues of African player Ali Farka Touré and the wisdom of Bob Marley. Those guys followed their own agenda, free of shackles and society’s conventions. They were akin to the intellectual Beatniks of 1950s and 1960s San Francisco, New York and Paris. McConaughey also likes the music of Americana-folk singer James McMurtry (son of author Larry McMurtry) and Dennis Brown.
‘It’s very similar to making movies. It’s very similar to telling a story,’ McConaughey said to MTV News about songs and the art of storytelling through different mediums whether it be music, movies or books. ‘That’s what’s really neat about it. Maybe it’s a different vocabulary, but each song’s its own story. Each song kind of has their own three-act structure… We start with a tease, then intro everybody, take it high, climax, pull off, give it a rest and then leave them wanting a little bit more.’
There has also been a philanthropic side to McConaughey. McConaughey has immersed himself in charity work over the years, juggling it both with family and acting. In February 2008 he ran the Nike + Human Race in Austin. The 10-km run took place on the same day in 25 cities around the world raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund and NineMillion.org.
There is a part of McConaughey that has always wanted to give back to society by helping those that have been less fortunate in life than he himself has been. McConaughey has had it fairly easy – after returning from Australia in 1988 as an exchange student he went to college, got into the movies, moved to LA and became rich and famous. Since A Time to Kill the decisions he has made have governed his choice of roles and the direction of his career. And now he is all about giving back to those who have been less fortunate.
The charity side of j.k. livin is ‘dedicated to helping teenage kids lead active lives and make healthy choices to become great men and women.’ It was reported that he had rescued various pets stranded after the flooding of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina in 2006. He once rescued a cat from two youths who doused the animal in hairspray and were attempting to set fire to it in Sherman Oaks. He is a person who cares about humanity and animals.
j.k. livin is both a brand and a philosophy, and McConaughey is both something of a shaman and a salesman. ‘We can talk about j.k. livin a lot of different ways,’ McConaughey explained to Texas Monthly’s John Spong in 2008. ‘It’s a decision-making paradigm, not a rulebook. It has structure, but it doesn’t put life in a box. It’s
not all aphorisms. You take your own counsel with yourself on what it is. It’s a lyric, a philosophy, a bumper sticker. It’s a rap, a rhythm, a bass line. It’s not about treble, ’cause we got a lot of that out there. Let’s keep to our bass line.’
Though he had endeavours outside of acting, he had already moved on to his next project – yet another rom-com. The paychecks were simply too good to turn down and he enjoyed making them.
‘As you know, a script with a $100,000 offer isn’t near as funny as the exact same script with a $10- or $15-million offer,’ McConaughey admitted to John Powers of Vogue. ‘The same words – they’re just funnier.’
‘The industry put him in a slot,’ said director Richard Linklater, who’d cast McConaughey in Dazed and Confused, to Holly Milea of Elle. ‘It’s not like he was turning down great parts. The material wasn’t coming his way. He was a character actor in a leading man’s body. Then something changed.’
There had been rumours circulating in Hollywood that McConaughey was going to be cast in a big screen adaption of the cult 1980s detective series, Magnum P.I., which starred Tom Selleck in the lead role as a private investigator living in Oahu, Hawaii. The show ran from 1980 to 1989 and was one of the most popular TV series of the decade. McConaughey reportedly turned down the $15 million pay cheque in order to reinvent himself after his final rom-com.
McConaughey spoke to Pop Matters’ Cynthia Fuchs about how at ease he has become with himself in front of the camera: ‘I can handle going to see dailies now, I can objectively see myself without being vain. I can see and tell the truth about the character and see what’s working for me, and if what I’ve got is what I was trying to do. I can find something I like or dislike, and be constructively critical of my work now, and I couldn’t before. I love the process, I love the making of them. But if I see a movie of mine on TV, I just keep flipping.’
