by Neil Daniels
‘I love Matthew McConaughey, he’s like a brother to me,’ Harrelson enthused to the Metro. ‘I honestly wouldn’t have done it, except that Matthew was doing it. He jumped into it and said “yes” before any other actors were involved. He related to the writing and knew how good it was from just the two episodes he’d read.’
Woody Harrelson had already worked with HBO on Game Change and was impressed by how the network works.
‘I can’t imagine anyone playing that part better,’ said Harrelson of McConaughey at the HBO panel of a Television Critics Association event in early 2014. ‘It was different than any other part I’ve seen him play before, and he knocked it out of the park.’
TV has changed. Some of the finest writing is not in film but on the box, with shows such as The Wire, House of Cards, Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad. It used to be the case that once-popular film actors would only end up on TV if their careers had washed up, but nowadays actors of the calibre of McConaughey, Glenn Close and Kevin Spacey have turned their attention to TV because there are fewer restraints when it comes to the writing. Producer Richard Brown explained his view to The Guardian’s Edward Helmore: ‘TV is made fast, but often lacks the tools of cinema. With True Detective we wanted to bring more cinema into TV – to find the sweet spot between film and TV.’
McConaughey read only the first two episodes of the series and he was committed. True Detective is planned as an anthology series with each series offering new storylines and characters. McConaughey signed a contract for the full eight episodes of the first series. Had it been a film it would have been a 450-page script.
‘That was another way I got lucky,’ said Pizzolatto to Sarah Hughes of The Guardian. ‘When Matthew expressed an interest, it was right before his renaissance. I’d seen Killer Joe and knew he was one of the few actors who could say Rust’s dialogue and make you believe it. With a lesser actor, the part would have had to be drastically rewritten.’
However, Pizzolatto also told Alan Sepinwall of HitFix: ‘I was really excited about Matthew playing Cohle, but the truth is, Woody was already on a very short list of men we wanted to approach. He had just come off of Rampart and Game Change, which are two incredible performances and incredibly different performances. So we always had Woody in mind as someone to approach. And when Matthew asked if we considered him, we were like, “Yeah, of course, and maybe you could help with that, since you guys are friends.”’
‘The first conversation I had with Matthew on the phone,’ director Fukunaga told The Guardian’s Paul MacInnes, ‘I could tell he was a smart guy. The first time we met he brought some music that he thought would work for the show. Initially we had differences in how we envisioned Cohle, but in terms of where he came from, we 100 per cent agreed on that. It was up to Matthew to put the flesh on that, be it in his voice or the way he moves. I wasn’t quite sure what he was going to do but I was very pleased with the results.’
Committed to just one season meant McConaughey didn’t have to renew his contract after a year and go back. It worked well for him considering how his film career had been revitalised. Each day they filmed thirty-nine pages of script – which is a lot of work, involving hours of filming and long days. However, some fans feel cheated with anthology series because they get so close to the characters that by the end of the season they’re left wanting more. Will viewers return for a second season? Will the scripts and actors be as good as season one? Vintage anthology series’ such as The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone have had a massive impact on science-fiction and fantasy, and American Horror Story is a successful modern anthology series that has run for four seasons with the possibility of a fifth, but in the main, anthology series don’t have much of an impact – especially in an age of multiple channels, the internet, downloading and streaming.
‘No more Rust Cohle, no more Marty Hart after eight episodes,’ McConaughey said to late night US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. ‘They’ll have another murder mystery to solve, but it will be all new detectives. Two of ’em, three of ’em, somewhere else.’
Pizzolatto expressed his thoughts on another season with McConaughey and Harrelson to Alan Sepinwall of HitFix: ‘I love working with those guys, and we loved working together, and we’re looking for things to do together in the future. I think for cinema actors, it’s a very gruelling thing. It takes up half their year at least, when they might usually be able to make two movies, or make one movie and enjoy downtime with their family. I would be completely open to anything those guys would want to do. People have asked about them coming back and I just have to say I think that would completely depend upon our actors, and if they wanted to I would of course jump on board. I feel like watching them, it made me say, “Why hasn’t anyone put these guys together before in a serious film?” They just play so well off each other. The highest compliment I can give their performances is I think it’s impossible to imagine two other guys in these roles after you see them.’
McConaughey prefers to work with directors who understand him and his personal take on the character. Cary Joji Fukunaga knew what McConaughey was doing with his character, Cohle. McConaughey likes a nudge here and there, and a director with objectivity. The pair worked well together on set.
Pizzolatto wrote clear identities to the characters and tone of the series. McConaughey and Harrelson basically went off the source material as it was complex enough. McConaughey went inside his character’s head to understand where he was coming from – why he is so obsessive, troubled and alone. Cohle is a realist living in a world that is not black and white. ‘There’s an ambiguity that is very existential in the guy,’ McConaughey said to John Lopez of Grantland. ‘He’s very specific but you’re like, “How many more things can you be like this about?” Which leads to what we were talking about earlier, the comedy comes from the exasperation of “Dude, shut up.” “Well, you asked – you wanted to talk.” But no one’s selling.’
It’s both interesting and challenging for McConaughey to get inside Cohle’s head – to see what his character was like in 1995, a man who is going back on a homicide case, who is barely keeping everything together. And then go back to the character seventeen years later in 2012 when he’s off the case and fallen off the rails. What happened in between? The storyline throughout the eight episodes fills in the gaps. The viewer slowly finds out what happened. It is an extraordinarily well written series; deep and immersive as it sucks the viewer into a complex web of plotlines. Cohle is certainly not a white knight. He’s a deeply intense and complex man tormented by his own past.
‘We usually have a shorthand in the way we work together but on this project a lot of what would be our shorthand didn’t apply,’ Harrelson told Metro about working with McConaughey on the set of True Detective. ‘Usually, we finish each other’s sentences but with this, Matthew was an island. He is one of the most gregarious guys I know but he is a little more method than me, and with this, he was fully in character and stayed in it.’
The 2014 HBO series True Detective won McConaughey rave reviews. Critics were stunned that the actor who’d been relatively lame in The Wedding Planner, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Failure to Launch, Fool’s Gold and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past could give such an alluring and grippingly dark performance. It was almost miraculous, really. Between 2001 and 2009 he’d hardly given any memorable film performances, but from 2010 onwards every performance he’s given on screen is simply marvellous. McConaughey has since become one of the most watchable actors alive. A decade earlier, most critics couldn’t stomach him.
David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: ‘The dialogue is rich, colourful and provocative, adding to the gothic sensibilities of the series. Director Cary Joji Fukunaga makes great use of the Louisiana location, giving it as much importance to the story as the characters of Cohle and Hart. All the performances are superb, but those of McConaughey and Harrelson are in a class by themselves.’
Benjain Secher of The Daily Telegraph wrote: ‘In th
e rich, dense, intense True Detective, HBO has created as irresistible a way of killing time as you’ll find on the small screen this year.’
The season finale, however, drew some negative complaints, but on the whole True Detective was hugely well received and will possibly go down as one of the truly great TV shows of the decade. ‘Thought the series was great,’ Alan Yuhas expressed in The Guardian, ‘the finale was more than a little lacking. It’s probably worth rewatching, though there were likely a few too many threads to tie up in eight episodes… In the end, True Detective finally flipped, and Marty and Rust discovered the good life again. They became the awkward buddy comedy we’d always wanted. I just wish the evidence were a little more convincing.’
McConaughey explained his fondness for his recent stream of outlaws, antiheroes and outcasts to Entertainment Weekly’s Jeff Labrecque: ‘They’re all characters who weren’t placating to civilization or society, so I liked them. They’ve all been sort of fringe-y characters that I was able to define certain obsessions that they had. And as an actor, if I can grab a hold of an obsession or two, that’s what I wanted to get drunk on.’
In June 2014, McConaughey was honoured with the Best Actor award at the fourth annual Television Critics’ Awards for his role in True Detective. Breaking Bad picked up Best Drama. McConaughey praised television for ‘raising the bar for character-driven drama.’
True Detective had begun the year in fine style and January also delivered a whole shelf of awards and accolades for McConaughey. It was awards season and McConaughey had both The Wolf of Wall Street and Dallas Buyers Club to his name, as well as True Detective, which is surely set for some recognition during the 2015 awards season. This period also gave McConaughey further chance to talk about Dallas Buyers Club, which he relished. He was presented with the ‘Independent Spirit Award’ at the annual Palm Springs International Film Festival on 4 January. Past actor recipients of the ‘Independent Spirit Award’ include Jeff Bridges, Bradley Cooper, Daniel Day-Lewis, Colin Firth, Jake Gyllenhaal, Sean Penn and Brad Pitt.
‘Matthew McConaughey is the rare actor who effortlessly moves between cinematic genres. From drama to thrillers to romantic comedies, he captivates audiences with the depth and range of his performances,’ said Harold Matzner, Chairman of the Palm Springs International Film Festival. ‘In the acclaimed new movie Dallas Buyers Club, McConaughey plays real-life cowboy Ron Woodroof, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1985 and given a month to live – but fought for dignity, acceptance, and living life to the fullest. We are privileged to present Matthew McConaughey with an award that honours his extraordinary and versatile talent, the 2014 Desert Palm Achievement Award for acting.’
McConaughey was in fine company as the awards ceremony also presented honours to Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, director Steve McQueen, Bruce Dern, Lupita Nyong’o, Thomas Newman and the cast of American Hustle. McConaughey was presented with the award by the revered British actor Gary Oldman, who said McConaughey’s performance in Dallas Buyers Club was fearless, sincere, honest and free. In his acceptance speech, McConaughey said: ‘Dallas Buyers Club was not an easy story to find. They don’t come across our desk that often. It’s been the best film in my career, that is for sure!’
McConaughey won a Golden Globe on 12 January. ‘This film…Ron Woodruff’s story was an underdog. For twenty years it was an underdog, turned down eighty-six times. Nobody wanted to put up money for it. We got the right people together five years ago, put some skin in the game, and here it is,’ said McConaughey when he accepted the award at the star studded ceremony.
He added: ‘Time like this makes me want to say thank you to my mother for a real reason. We were growing up, we weren’t movie kids, we weren’t TV kids, we weren’t media kids… if it was daylight, you had to be outside playing. We’d go, “Why mom? Why can’t I just watch 30 minutes of TV?” She goes, “Don’t watch somebody on TV do it for you, get out there and do it for yourself.” Now this many years later I’m like, “That’s a pretty good recipe for an actor.” Go be the subject of whatever you’re doing.’
‘How are you going to top that speech you made at the Golden Globes? It’s untoppable,’ Jimmy Kimmel said during an interview with McConaughey on his popular late night talk show on ABC. ‘I feel like you wasted your A material on the Golden Globes, and now you have a lot to live up to. Do you have anything in mind?’
McConaughey also won ‘Best Actor’ at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on 18 January where he gave a rather unusual speech, which involved Neptune and baffled everyone. He also bagged an Oscar for ‘Best Actor’ on 2 March 2014 (no Screen Actors Guild Award winner has failed to pick up an Oscar since 2003) for his role as Ron Woodroof.
He told the press (Gossip Center) that he sat down and spoke with his kids before the lavish Oscars ceremony: ‘“We’re going out tonight because there’s an award show. Remember when we were back in New Orleans and lived in that house? The work that dad did then, the work we all did, people are shining a light on it today, so if you do your best right now, it can have reciprocity later and come back and pay residuals.” That’s the lesson we’re trying to get to them.’
The world’s media watched the celebrities walk the red carpet in expensive tailor-made suits and dresses by some of the top names in fashion. McConaughey looked dapper in a handsome black and white tuxedo. Camila worked with Charlene Roxborough, hairstylist, Jasmin Robles and makeup artist Patrick DeFontbrune to create her dream Oscars look. Alves and Roxborough worked with designer Gabriela Cadena for her dress. ‘I’m dressing for him [Matthew] and he does give input,’ she said to ABC News. ‘He likes to see me, not the dress taking over.’
With Kim Novak, star of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, at his side McConaughey also delivered a trophy to Frozen for ‘Best Animated Feature’.
McConaughey gave a detailed albeit rather baffling and pretentious thank-you speech, which included the following: ‘There’s a few things, about three things to my account that I need each day. One of them is something to look up to, another is something to look forward to, and another is someone to chase. Now, first off, I want to thank God. ’Cause that’s who I look up to. He has graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or any other human hand. He has shown me that it’s a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates. In the words of the late Charlie Laughton, who said, “When you’ve got God, you got a friend. And that friend is you.”’
The forty-four-year-old also thanked his family, friends and colleagues for the Oscar. There’s no doubt that he was thrilled to finally get the coveted award. It’s something that he’d always wanted to get his hands on. His co-star Jared Leto was also a winner, picking up ‘Best Supporting Actor’ – that meant that for the first time since 2003’s Mystic River a single film had claimed both acting awards at the Oscars. McConaughey has also either won or been nominated for many film festival awards and regional film awards in North American and Europe.
‘I just find that the more I wake up and find things to be appreciative about, they do reciprocate somehow,’ McConaughey told Josh Elliott of ABC News backstage at the Oscars. ‘Gratitude is a scientific fact. It fills me up to be thankful for things and I have a lot to be thankful for, always starting with just the fact that you get another day. We take that for granted.’
The Sun reported that McConaughey was eager to get home after winning the Oscar so he could celebrate with his wife. As reported in The Sun, he was allegedly overheard by one source saying: ‘We won’t stay at the after party long – I want to go home and make another baby!’
A source also said: ‘Matthew wasn’t worried about getting drunk, he was more keen to get home with his beautiful wife, which he made quite clear in her ear… It was so lovely to see, though. It’s clear how in love they are. They kissed and kissed and kissed.’
Winning an Oscar or an Emmy was not something that he was aiming for but he was extremely proud and happy to win them. ‘I think that it’s
absolutely fair to judge art,’ he told RogerEbert.com’s Susan Wloszczyna. ‘I have opinions about things that are better than other things. If there was no gauge, you would say Shakespeare is the same thing as any junior-high girl’s diary. I’m not really thinking about the result of it. But people are saying it to me. I don’t know, we’ll see. I like the film. I like the experience. I can talk about it for hours. And, if it translates in that way, great.’
Friends, family and fellow actors came out in support of McConaughey and spoke about how pleased they were for his success. His former onscreen lover Jennifer Lopez told Para Todos magazine: ‘It was great working with Matthew. So proud of what he’s accomplished over the last few years and I have fond memories of him on set.’
It’s interesting to look at his spate of films post The Lincoln Lawyer: the characters are all defined by the predicaments that they find themselves in. Not every future venture will be an indie film but there does seem to be a link with auteur directors. These films have given him a newfound freedom as an actor. He doesn’t feel tied down by genre or stereotype; he is free of all shackles. He’s no longer interested in ‘Saturday characters’ as he refers to them. Once upon a time he’d been attracted to the lightness of the romantic-comedy, the fairy tale-like charm of them, but those roles were long over as more realistic characters came calling.
