On Friday, 2/21, Matthew McConaughey took part in a Film Society Talk with the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City.
Here are some of the highlights from the Q&A which focused on his Oscar-nominated performance in Dallas Buyers Club:
– McConaughey said likes films where you imagine the characters 5 years before and after what you see in the film. He likes movies that are not finite.
– When he is working on developing a role, he wants to get a monologue down first, then he can start working on the dialogue.
– He likes “launching pad lines” where after the character says something your imagination goes wild and you think there is no ceiling on this guy. He gave 2 examples of this: Wooderson from Dazed & Confused when he said the line about the high school girls staying the same age and also in The Wolf of Wall Street when he says a line about hookers and coke.
– Matthew admitted he also tried to get into the personal politics of a character and said it could potentially help him out later if he gets stuck. He said he thinks of it like “don’t act like one, be one.”
– Regarding Dallas Buyers Club he said he didn’t want to turn into a sentimental move because he feels that can be force fed. He liked keeping the original anarchic guy and keeping him a “son of a bitch” and then the crusade with show through.
– He said the word “method” gets thrown around too much these days, but he would talk to the director as Ron Woodroof and that made the communication very direct and clear. Matt said he likes having one checkout at the end of the day and not in the middle. He doesn’t like conducting personal business in between takes. He’d rather stay in character.
– He said it’s important to enjoy the process. It’s not good if you’re in it for the results only. Most of the time a good process will likely lead to good results. He said the fulfillment of finishing is enough. When you made a film you’re not even sure it will come out and, if it does, what it will look like after editing. Therefore, it should all be about the experience you had. He said he loves the day-to-day work in making movies more than watching them. He loves that all people, who are experts in their field, come together to make films.
– Regarding True Detective he said he’s not even sure what’s going on with it and he made it! At first he thought the 1995 part would be boring, especially after 5 weeks, but he learned to be patient with it. The parts where it jumps to 2002 and 2012 would be more defining.
Photos: Denise Korey
