by Neil Daniels
*****
The phone rang. Time for another rom-com. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past was released in the UK and US in May 2009. McConaughey was still stuck in the role of rom-com actor after The Wedding Planner, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Failure to Launch and Fool’s Gold and now he was cast in the risible Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. ‘I was good to them and they were good to me,’ McConaughey told the Scotsman on his experience of making romantic comedies. ‘Shoot, yeah. Some of those romantic comedies, they put food on my kids’ table. Trust me. Absolutely. And they’re quite fun to do. You’ve got to be in a whole different mind-frame for them.’
Loosely based on Charles Dickens’ seminal supernatural tale, A Christmas Carol, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is passable if only for it’s interesting premise. While the Dickens novel features Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the film is set the day before and during a wedding day. McConaughey plays a successful and famous photographer and womaniser named Connor Mead who is haunted by his ex-girlfriends at his younger brother’s wedding. Directed by Mark Waters, the film also stars Jennifer Garner, Lacey Chabert and Michael Douglas. Filming took place between February and July of 2008 in Massachusetts.
McConaughey was asked by a fan in People magazine what he’d do if he was visited by his former girlfriends. He replied: ‘I think I’d learn that the reason that they dug me when we were dating was how excited I would get about details of little situations, like making pancakes in the morning. And I think the other thing would probably be my sense of humour. I’m actually happy to say I’ve been in some of my ex-girlfriends’ weddings. I go, “Well, right on, man. That’s good.”’
McConaughey loved the script, especially the first twenty or thirty pages where he thought there was a lot of bite to the story. It was the clever dialogue that grabbed him and the strong male character was someone he saw himself portraying onscreen. ‘It was just the best romantic comedy I’ve read in years,’ McConaughey enthused to People’s Brenda Rodriguez. ‘It had a big heart about having a second chance. And the ghosts in it levitated the comedy and allowed me to just be a fool.’
Michael Douglas’s character Uncle Wayne was laugh-a-minute too; McConaughey thought the rich comedy dialogue was on par with The Wedding Crashers. Usually in romantic comedies the dialogue doesn’t cut deep with the audience, but McConaughey felt differently about this film. The ghosts gave the script added humour. It’s a fairy tale but with humour and warmth and it offered something different to the previous rom-coms McConaughey had been cast in.
Garner enjoyed working with her male co-star. She thought McConaughey was a sweet, gentle and funny guy who was very easy to get along with. Garner admired him as an actor and was more than elated to be working with him. Garner liked the film because it was a different variation on the clichéd romantic-comedy, not just because of the ghosts, but because of her character. She’s never had a problem resisting someone in her life who has tried to break her heart and nor has she ever gone for ‘the bad guy.’ What she liked about her character was that her dialogue reminded her of the many conversations she’d had about romance with her girlfriends.
McConaughey wasn’t about to change things in his life abruptly, the way his character does, as he told journalist Rebecca Murray at About.com: Hollywood Movies at the US premiere of the film: ‘I’m not a big sort of signpost guy with things like that. I’m about to turn forty; I don’t really see that as like a, “Oh my god, I’ve got to do this.” No, I kind of roll with it a little bit more. We’ll work hard at it. I’ve still got a lot of relationships and doing the same things that I have been working on for thirty-nine years, so that feels good – whether it’s family or friends or job – to feel it all still connected from thirty-nine years ago, things that I started twenty years ago, friends that I met twenty-five years ago that are still here tonight. Things like that.’
To work with a revered acting icon as Michael Douglas was a major coup for McConaughey who had yet to enter the prime of his career (though no one knew it at the time). He learned a lot from Douglas just from sitting down chatting to him. Douglas spoke to him about the experiences he had on some of his own movies such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Wall Street. It was a dream for McConaughey to gain so much knowledge about the making of movies, the industry and what to do and what not to do in films.
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past debuted at the US box office at number two and though it was not a critical success it fared well.
The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw wrote: ‘It’s not a bad idea and Michael Douglas gives a game cameo as the spirit of a louche uncle who taught the teenage McConaughey all the moves. (If you want to see this idea done properly and funnily, incidentally, rent Dylan Kidd’s Roger Dodger on DVD.) How crass and joyless the whole business is, culminating in a love-declaration scene prefigured by McConaughey knocking an elderly man unconscious, to get the boring, obstructive old dude out of the way. Yikes.’
Tim Robey wrote in The Daily Telegraph: ‘Still, there’s an undertone of satisfying bitterness before the gloop sets in: the recriminations are just an ounce more cutting and tart than you’re ready for. McConaughey, who will be just as funny as Douglas in 20 years’ time, looks suitably chastened. There’s only one scene with his shirt off.’
Empire’s Anna Smith wrote: ‘The teen scenes have appeal, offset by Douglas’ enjoyable rotter, but McConaughey, all charmless sleaze and corny chat-up lines, is neither funny nor ripe for redemption.’
Thankfully, that was it for McConaughey and rom-coms. He’d had enough and there’s certainly an argument that film fans had had quite enough of seeing him in those types of films, too. ‘What’s tougher about a romantic comedy is that it’s a whole different game,’ McConaughey explained to Vulture’s Jennifer Vineyard. ‘They’re not supposed to have a super-clear definition. You have to float through those. [Makes a waving motion with his arms.] There’s an amiability and a buoyancy, and you got to keep it afloat. And definition will go down, and if you go down in a rom-com, you sink the ship. It’s dead. Over. Twelve minutes into the film, you’re done.’
Matthew loves acting. He’s one of few people who can actually say, ‘I love my job.’ He likes it more now than he used to and he knows how to handle the fame and the rigours that come with acting – being away from home, the travel, long hours, promotional work and such. But he was beginning to feel an itch that needed to be scratched. Change can be a good thing as he would soon learn more than ever before.
It was announced in June 2010 that McConaughey was teaming up with Marc Hyman to write a scripted comedy for FX, the popular TV channel, based on material by J.R. Reed. He also made an appearance in the critically acclaimed HBO Will Ferrell-produced comedy series Eastbound & Down. McConaughey plays Texan scout Roy McDaniel in three episodes in seasons two and three. Somewhere on the backburner was an idea for a biopic of Billy Carter, the brother of President Jimmy Carter, which he’d been discussing with Dazed and Confused director Richard Linklater.
The Guardian’s Andrew Pulver noted: ‘He could have been the new Brad Pitt, a stand-by of the Oscar nomination sheet; instead he became the young George Hamilton.’
McConaughey’s career has evolved which has helped him as a person and as an actor as he explained to Chud’s Devin Faraci in 2006: ‘The interesting thing about my career is that I went in reverse – I had a very successful film that made me famous right off the bat, A Time to Kill. And then later started to learn what the heck I was doing, started to work on my craft and take classes, which is what I’m doing now. I didn’t have any of that experience before. Did I expect to be doing that? Sure. Did I expect this is how it would work out? No.’
Films that have been openly discussed but failed to find a backer are Hammer Down and Dear Delilah and Tishomingo Blues (based on the Elmore Leonard novel, with Don Cheadle initially attached as director). Such is the nature of Hollywood. McConaughey moved on to new projects and even expressed interest in directing a feature, but he knows what
his first professional love is as he told Empire: ‘I’ve gotta say to you, I’m really enjoying acting, I just feel like I’m learning so much, and kind of enjoying the wonderful mystery of acting and storytelling. I’m doing my work, learning my rules early then just throwing them out the back door when it’s time to work and let it fly.’
However, despite his obvious passion and the commercial success of some of his mainstream films, McConaughey was dangerously close to becoming just another piece of disposable Hollywood fodder; a caricature of himself, taking whatever roles came his way just for the pay cheque. In a similar fashion to British actor Hugh Grant, who has carved out a career for himself as a bumbling upper middle class English gent, McConaughey was shifting between flimsy roles in romantic comedies to hardly taxing parts in mostly unmemorable dramas. Bar the odd exception such as Frailty, his films were memorable for all the wrong reasons.
Be that as it may, McConaughey soon surprised everyone.
CHAPTER SEVEN
NO MORE ROM-COMS
‘(I thought), “Oh man, this is what I’m doing. I’m growing in my real life and I want to feel my growth in my career, because that’s my life too.”’
Matthew McConaughey, USA Today, 2013
‘It’s been different throughout my career,’ McConaughey explained to Total Film about what governs his choice of roles. ‘The one thing I ever said that I’ve kind of stuck to is: keep changing it up. And then I’ve had spans where I’ve done many of the same types in a row and then I’ve had spans where things that I did like for instance action, adventure and romantic-comedy are all things that are accessible to the public and will do well and playing to a lot more people and pay a lot more as well. Those are the only ones that have real security and I know my kids are going to eat and we got a home, two homes: one in California and one in Texas. I don’t have to be concerned at the gas station if I’m going to be able to put unleaded or super unleaded in my tank, thankfully.’
There is such a thing as too much exposure. McConaughey realised this after a flurry of activity and mostly mundane films between 2001 and 2009. After a brief sabbatical of almost two years he went under a sort of spiritual cleanse and re-evaluated himself and fathered a second child. (His daughter, Vida Alves McConaughey, was born in 2010. ‘It was the only name that we had for a girl even before we had Levi. We had many male names but we only had Vida. She came out and she gave us life so we named her Vida,’ he admitted to late night talk show host Jay Leno.) McConaughey chose to side-step his stereotype as a rom-com actor in favour of small, independent films. Eventually, these more challenging roles would bring him critical favour that he never had in Hollywood romantic comedies. But first, he wanted a break. Family is important to him. He is a very loving and loyal man, and a responsible and fun dad.
McConaughey made a cheeky reference to the conception of his second child while presenting the ‘Top Male Vocalist Of The Year’ award at the 2010 County Music Awards; he told the audience: ‘After the show last year, my lady and I, Camila, we even went back to the hotel and conceived the little lady who is now our daughter Vida Alves McConaughey.’
‘That’s a true story,’ McConaughey added with a smile. ‘Now I’m back, I’m having a great time again, but I promise you me and Camila are going to try not to get so lucky this year…two’s enough! We are flush for a while.’
The CMTs (Country Music Television Awards) that year gave McConaughey a headline in the gossip rags after country singer Carrie Underwood apologised for a cheeky sexual remark she made to him. At the 2009 awards McConaughey told a story of how George Strait’s cowboy boots once got him ‘lucky’ when he went to see Dwight Yoakum with his brother and they met a couple of girls. When asked what they did for a living, they lied and said they made George Strait’s boots and had an exclusive contract with him. George was in the audience when McConaughey explained the story. Underwood joked to McConaughey when she collected her (‘Entertainer Of The Year’) award from him: ‘I don’t know what to say. I got nothin’ … I want to see those boots, Matthew.’ The audience were in hysterics, though perhaps Camila wasn’t so amused. At this year’s awards show McConaughey handed her a pair of boots. She told the press backstage: ‘I’m so embarrassed, I totally embarrassed myself. I just blanked. You want to say something eloquent in a moment like that and I embarrassed myself. I’m sorry Matthew, I’m sorry to my family. I’m totally embarrassed.’
During his self-imposed break that began in 2009, he’d get offered major roles with huge paychecks but turned them down knowing that work may dry up in the increasingly fickle film industry. After several months scripts stopped being sent altogether and the powers that be got the message. He’d gotten a bad rap for a while and wanted to go into the shadows to disappear from acting, although he has never been overly concerned about how he is perceived.
‘I went to my wife and my agent and said, “I’m going to stop for a bit,”’ he confessed to Variety’s Jenelle Riley. ‘I’m going to sit back in the shadows. I’m getting into my forties, a great time for a man. I’ve started a family. I want to take time to laugh and love and enjoy these adventures.’
‘I never said, “Oh, I want to go do darker or edgier stuff,”’ McConaughey elaborated to Details’ Adam Sachs. ‘I just said, “I’m going to take some time off. I have to take care of my family right now. We’ve got the means in the bank account, we’ve got a roof over our head, we’re gonna eat well, we’re fine. So let’s take some introspective time.” It wasn’t a mini-retirement. It was just that I wanted to listen to myself and be a bit more discerning.’
He was offered scripts with handsome paychecks, and indeed some of the scripts were very good, but he just wanted to sit back and get inspired. When he decided to return to work it had to be with the right project. Tom Cruise had spiced up his career with Magnolia and Tropic Thunder and McConaughey was looking to do the same thing. McConaughey’s wife was firmly in support of her husband’s decisions. ‘You’ll have people around you who want other things [for you],’ director Richard Linklater, McConaughey’s friend and colleague of over twenty years, told People magazine, ‘but she (Camila) will approach it as, “What does Matthew want?” That’s the direction she pushes him.’
In 2011 McConaughey starred in The Lincoln Lawyer, which opened in the UK and US in March. It was a complete turnaround for the actor who had been stuck in lame romantic comedies and average dramas. McConaughey was enthusiastic about the story. He was attracted to the whodunit, cat and mouse aspect of it; plus he hadn’t made a film like it in quite a while. It brought a refreshing change.
‘I read the script about four or five years ago and it needed a little bit of work,’ McConaughey admitted to New Idea magazine in Australia, ‘and I didn’t really feel like I was in the time of my life where I was turned on by it. And then it came back around, the script had improved and it was just where I wanted to be as an actor.’
He was surprised by the rewritten script, which he found suspenseful and engaging. His character reminded him of a cowboy and he liked that about the film.
‘I got put in touch with Matthew for his passion project called Bone Game,’ Brad Furman, the director, explained to Ain’t it Cool News’ Mr. Beaks, ‘which is this gritty rodeo movie – sort of like The Wrestler. I loved that script; I thought he was perfect to play it. I went to meet him and pitch him on why I thought I’d be the perfect director for Bone Game, and we really hit it off; he really thought I was right for Bone Game. But as with most of these situations, the reality is… you know, is the actor going to make it or not, and if so, when? So I was like, “If you’re interested, when are you going to do it?” And he’s like, “I don’t know. I’ll let you know.” And then two weeks later, I got a call from my agent, and he said, “You’re going in tomorrow to meet for The Lincoln Lawyer. Matthew put you up for it.” I was so confused. I was like, “What happened to Bone Game?” And he said, “Matthew decided he wants to make The Lincoln Lawyer next.” I was like, “
Am I the only guy going in?” I was really confused. [Producer] Tom Rosenberg loves to tell me that there wasn’t a chance in hell he was ever hiring me for this movie. Then I met him, and I guess I won him over. It was just one of those things.’
Furman felt like he knew how to make this script. He had heard of Michael Connelly’s books but had never read them, though he grew up on John Grisham. His parents were attorneys and so was his grandfather so the script interested him. He’d been in a courtroom since he was a child and worked as a runner for his grandfather at a law firm so he knew the business.
The days of A Time to Kill, Amistad and Contact seemed like such a long time ago and McConaughey was desperate to win back critical favour as a serious actor. After a decade’s worth of mostly below average films, although McConaughey’s performances were not all that bad, he desperately needed to reinvent himself. He was struggling to compete with leading comedy actors such as Ryan Reynolds and Bradley Cooper and he didn’t have the comedic flair of someone like Will Ferrell. It was time for him to move on to other projects that would win him back the critical acclaim his younger self once had. The film took just forty days to shoot a 130-page script that would usually have taken sixty.
‘I was enjoying myself,’ he said to GQ’s Jessica Pressler. ‘My relationship with acting was fine. But like in any relationship, you need to shake things up. It didn’t mean what we’d been doing was less than. I just wanted a charge. Like, “Let’s throw a spark into this.”’
