Shadowing Practice: Matthew McConaughey | Howard Stern Interview - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Matthew McConaughey, look at you, man.
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Haven't aged a bit.
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The company I'm keeping.
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Is that what it is?
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You're living a good life, right?
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I mean, you take care of yourself.
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I'm doing my best, yeah.
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You even said to me, you know, 100 years ago when I met you, you're a vain guy, but when you have to lose weight for Dallas Buyers Club
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or when you have to gain weight for the movie Gold, it's got to rip you apart because you're into being in shape, right?
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Yeah, but I mean, I think I'm vain enough to lose the weight because I'd be embarrassed if I didn't.
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Right.
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I'm vain enough to put on the weight because that's what the role needed.
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What do they do?
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Do they hire you a nutritionist to help you get through that?
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No, I just did it myself.
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You did?
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What do you eat?
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What are the great things you eat when you have to gain weight for the movie Gold?
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Well, whatever.
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I had six months of saying yes to whatever I wanted to eat or drink.
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Mainly that was cheeseburgers and beer.
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Oh, I would have pasta.
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For breakfast, whatever.
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Really?
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And that puts on 47 pretty quickly.
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Yeah.
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And where do you get hit?
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In the titties or in the belly?
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It starts in the ass.
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Right.
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And you don't work out during it, right?
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I didn't take the stairs to the second floor.
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No, nothing.
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You're like a meal.
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They lock you in a box.
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They carried him.
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And then, yeah, you do start getting some titties.
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A little man titty.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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A little bit of that going on myself.
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A little double chin neck going on.
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You get a little love.
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So, first of all, winning the Academy Award.
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I should congratulate you on that.
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Now, did you ever think that was going to happen?
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Did you think that was an opportunity for you in your life?
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Is that something you sought?
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I mean, it is the gold standard.
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And I was like, you know, now that I've made this a career, it's like I'd like to do some work that could be worthy of that.
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I can't say I sought it out, though.
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Yeah, but you've been smart about your career.
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You're one of those guys I admire because you probably reinvented yourself a bunch of times.
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Like, you did a series of romantic comedies, very good living, movies were all successful, could have stayed like that.
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And you came out of the box with people saying, this is going to be a big star.
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Yeah, my career started in reverse order, basically.
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I mean, Time to Kill was early in my career after Dazed and Confused, and all of a sudden, over a weekend, there I was on magazine covers, and I had never taken an acting class yet.
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I love this story.
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You know, you grew up in Texas, and we'll get to that in a second, but when you get your first movie, Dazed and Confused, I mean, your first big thing, and the movie was a big movie.
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You, like, just kind of decided to be an actor
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because you meet some guy in a bar who's a casting director, right?
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Where was the bar?
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Austin, Texas, I think it was down on First Street.
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And you're sitting there, what are you, having a beer or something?
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I'm there with my girlfriend, order a drink.
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I'm there because the bartender was in film school with me.
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Not acting school, but film school, and he gave me free drinks.
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Yeah, you wanted to be a director, right?
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That was your sort of focus at that point.
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Yeah, behind the camera.
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Yeah, maybe I'll be behind the camera, whatever.
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And then you're sitting there, and some casting director dude comes up to you and says, Hey, you're a good -looking dude.
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Well, the bartender says, the guy at the end of the bar is in town producing a film.
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So I go introduce myself.
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Right.
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His name is Don Phillips.
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What did you say to Don Phillips?
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I said, I introduced myself.
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And I said, you're in town working on a film.
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And he goes, yeah, yeah, I'm working on this film producing and I'm casting.
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It's called Days Confused.
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What do you want?
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And so he was kind of off -putting to me.
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Like, I'm some kind of low point.
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Yeah, stupid.
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What do you want?
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So we started shooting the shit.
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And all of a sudden, we both know we played golf.
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We had a similar course we had played.
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Cut to three hours later, we get kicked out.
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Right.
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Forbidden a little rambunctious.
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And on the ride home in a taxi, he says, hey, Matthew, you ever done any acting?
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Any of that acting stuff?
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You haven't done any acting.
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If you know Don Phillips, people out there go, this is what he sounds like.
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And I said, well, I was in a Miller -like commercial for about that long.
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Yeah.
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I'd say it was more of a modeling job for a half a second.
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Right.
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And he goes, well, come to this address in the morning if you're interested.
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You might be just right for this part.
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I go down and pick up the script.
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The days are confused.
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Yeah. And Richard...
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Linklater.
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Linklater was the director.
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Yep.
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And so he meets with you, right?
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I go home.
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There's three lines.
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I go home and back to Longview, Texas to work on these three lines for three weeks.
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What were the three lines?
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Do you even remember?
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Well, one's the great line.
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I call it a launch pad line, where you get a line like this and you go, oh, there's a whole fucking book on this character.
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And it's the guy, it's Wooderson out front of the pool hall.
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The girls walk by, he reaches over, he slaps one on the backside as she passes, and his buddy says, you're going to go to jail for that.
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You've got to cut that out.
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And he says, no, man, that's what I love about those high school girls.
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I get older, they stay the same age.
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And you get a line like that.
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Philosopher.
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Whoa.
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Yeah.
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Genius.
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So as soon as I get that line, I'm like, who is this cat?
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Right.
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You know, you could write a book on somebody if they believe that.
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And so I ended up working three weeks.
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Yeah, but when you got the interview with this guy, Linklater, he says to you, hey, you're not this guy.
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Yeah, so I come in, and it's a job interview, right?
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So I shave, move my hair, iron my shirt, got to have a pleat in my jeans, tucked in and everything, and I'm going to go in for my job.
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And I walk in, and he's like, yeah, you're here to read for Wooderson.
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I'm like, yes, sir.
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And he's like, okay.
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Well, then I sat down and as Rick tells me, he said, I sat in the chair and he goes, okay, go ahead.
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And he said, I kind of just kicked back and laid my shoulders back and did worse.
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And he comes up and he goes, well, you're not this guy.
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I said, no, I'm not this guy, but I know who this guy is.
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Right.
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And it's who I thought my middle brother was when I was 11 and he was 17.
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And it was through the back window of my mom's car going to pick him up from school one day
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because his car was broke down and she's looking for him outside the school
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and he's not there where he's supposed to be.
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Well, I see him at the back window leaning against the wall, knee out, foot up against the wall, smoking a cigarette in the smoking section.
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That's the guy.
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He was seven feet.
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He was the coolest.
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Right.
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And I go, there he...
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And I remember shutting up because he'd have got his ass beat for smoking.
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Right.
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So I didn't tell mom there he was but that image as we pulled away watching my brother.
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So in other words, only in acting should you not walk in for your job interview all cleanly shaved and groomed.
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When I walked away.
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Did you have a briefcase?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Probably did.
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Yeah.
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Clipboard, pen, recorder.
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But what a break to get that.
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Did your dad live long enough to see you have some success?
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He moved on five days into me working on Days Confused.
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So he didn't come see it, but he was alive for me to do what turned out to be my career.
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Which there's, I got some nice piece in that because everything before that was a hobby.
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You mean your dad got to see you get a job on Dazed and Confused?
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Got to see me get a job that turned out to be my career.
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Did you think Dazed and Confused was going to be a big movie?
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I had no idea.
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You can't tell.
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They're paying me $325 a day.
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People are inviting me back the next day.
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It's big for you.
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Telling me I'm good at it.
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Most I had made was $72 waiting tables at Catfish Station.
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Teach me something about acting.
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When you prepared for that movie, Dazed and Confused, they say you listen to live Doors music.
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And Jim Morrison said, all right, all right, all right, like probably from one of the stage announcements.
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And so how does that get you in touch with your character?
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Because all right, all right, all right sounds like something.
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No, no, no, no, not that literal at all.
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Number one, Linklater on that film, what he did, his first piece of direction was he handed every character a cassette with a mixtape of music.
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He goes, this is what I think you've got to be listening to.
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Well, as a young actor, you're getting handed badass music on a cassette to go rock out to and that's your homework?
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Yeah.
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Oh, okay.
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I go off and I'm listening to all kinds of music from the 70s.
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That song in particular I did not remember.
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This is something, there's some, I think it's a live album in like Copenhagen or something and Morris is like, all right, all right, all right, all right, he barks it out like four times.
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So I'm not thinking of that.
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But on the night where I go to do a scene, I wasn't supposed to do a scene, Rick just says, hey, I got this idea.
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Maybe Wooderson's picking up on the redhead intellectual.
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What do you think?
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I said, sure.
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He goes, you want to shoot it?
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I'm like, okay.
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So I go get in my car.
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Now I'm getting nervous.
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First scene I've ever done.
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It's not scripted.
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So I'm telling myself in my head, who's my man?
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Who's my man?
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Who's Wooderson?
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What am I?
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And I go, well, what am I about?
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I said, I'm about my car.
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I go, well, I'm in my 70s Chevelle.
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I said, I'm about getting high.
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I said, well, Slater's riding shotgun.
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He's got a Dubois rolled up.
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I said, I'm about rock and roll.
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There we go.
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We got Ted Nugent stranglehold in the eight track
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and I hear action and so I look up
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and in my head I go well the fourth thing I'm about is chicks
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and that's what I'm about to go pick up
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and in my mind I said well you got three out of four all right all right all right
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and that was me confirming out loud the three things I got
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and I'm gonna go get the fourth
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so the line was all right all right all right that's
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first words I ever said on film wow first words ever said kind of stuck too right
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when people do impressions and stuff.
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It's like, all right, all right, all right.
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It did kind of stick.
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And I don't mind, you know, if I go anytime I'm public speaking, if I kick it off with that, it reminds me where I got started.
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You know what I'm so fascinated about your life?
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Because this is, this would be a fantasy of mine.
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In high school, you were voted best looking, most handsome man in the school.
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Yeah.
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If I could have had that, you know, I just missed it.
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I still have time.
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You know, but I mean, that's such a gift.
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That's such a blessing.
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It really is.
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Yeah, it might have had to do with it.
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I had a really a nice perm in my hair at that time.
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Is that what it is?
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When you're the most handsome, that's just fantastic.
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I mean, I was basically overlooked.
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I mean, because, you know, look at me.
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I'm a mess.
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Do you ever look back at that and go, I can't believe I was most handsome?
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Or do you see that as maybe something that...
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Was high school great as a result?
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Had to be, right?
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High school was pretty great.
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Yeah.
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You were an athlete too, right?
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I was a decent athlete.
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I mean, I played golf.
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I was two on the team had a good four handicap
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but i was i was i at 18 in my family is it was very strict
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and disciplined family yes and was it though it was
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because your mom seems like a wild character they're outlaws yeah
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but part of this i've learned later in life part of my parents being
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so strict was to see one you better follow the rules
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but one day you're gonna buck them and you're gonna break them right
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and just better know what they are just
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when you think the levy breaks and you're in trouble that's
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when they hug you and you go god damn good job we were waiting on you to do that.
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Because your dad was kind of a successful guy, right?
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I mean, he was in the oil business, wasn't he?
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Yeah.
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And your brother Rooster, Rooster's a self -made millionaire, right?
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Absolutely.
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He was a 22 year old.
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But it's got to be nice to have brothers who are successful, because you don't have to sit there and feel guilty about your own success.
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I don't know if I'd have felt guilty about it.
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We're pretty much a self -reliant family, and no one really mooches off anybody in our family.
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If somebody makes it and someone's not making it, it's not expected that our family will go make sure you give money to the one who's not making it.
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Was there ever jealousy because you are famous?
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And while those guys are great guys, they don't have the fame and the success you have.
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Well, look, my older brother Rooster and my mom, maybe mostly from my mom, whose dream was to always be one of the golden girls.
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And I'm saying, Mom, you're 85, you're out there, You still got time, babe.
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It seemed like a wild family.
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Your mom was a kindergarten teacher, right?
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A teacher.
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She's still alive.
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She just had her 85th birthday.
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Yeah.
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And your parents lived this lustful life in the sense that...
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Divorced twice, married three times, 39 years.
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Unbelievable.
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They were wild.
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This is to each other they got remarried?
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Yes, ma 'am.
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Oh, my goodness.
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And your dad always said, didn't he say, I'm going to go out, probably banging your mom?
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He said, boys, when I go, I'm going to be making love to your mother.
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And he did.
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He called a shot.
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He did do it, didn't he?
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6 .30 a .m on a Monday morning.
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Do you believe there's something cosmic about that?
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That when someone says, like, I always had this premonition I'm going to die in a car crash or something.
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Like, your dad knew how he was going to die, and he actually did it.
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Did he have a heart attack?
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I had a heart fibrillation, yeah.
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And then your mom said, I want my man to be carried out of here nude.
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I want them to see the gift that was Jim McConaughey.
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Which, I mean, he must have had a big cop, right?
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I mean, is that what she was talking about?
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Yeah, the paramedics are covering him.
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And all the neighbors are out in the street.
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He's going out the garage down.
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So, you know, what's the sensible thing to do at 7 a .m.?
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Cover him.
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My mom's out there half naked, ripping the sheet off him.
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Get that sheet off of him.
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You're going to see how big Jim went out.
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I hope he had a boner at that point.
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I do, too.
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Really, she was so proud of this man.
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Even though they had been married and divorced all this time.
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What a fucking emotional family, right?
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They were badasses and complete outlaws.
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Yeah, and I guess that seems kind of like a tight -knit family, like a good deal.
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It was a great deal.
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I mean, look, we always had this great saying in the family, hey, I don't like you right now.
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I love you, but I don't like you.
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And so you never, you couldn't hold a grudge in our family either.
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It didn't matter what, if it was a school night or what, we're going to stay up, we'll stay up until you go to school to hash this out.
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But no one's going to bed with a grudge right now.
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And it seemed like your old man was really interested in you.
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He even gave me the discussion about the birds and the bees.
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And he said to you, listen, man, go in the shower.
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I bet you that water's hit your pecker a couple of times.
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And I said, yeah, you know, when we got that new showerhead a couple of years ago, that went it hit me in the right spot i do like
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that shower more than the other showers that was the
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that was the lecture on the birds and the bees well no the birds
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and the bees was another time where he was like he knew i was getting interested in girls
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and i was you know sneaking off on the nature trail
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and things and we had that birds and bees talk about respecting women
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and i think you know you probably read this
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but he was always like you're gonna get further
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and you're gonna go further with a girl but he goes
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if you ever feel a girl hesitate even one inch He goes, you'll know.
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You'll feel it in their body.
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He'll stop.
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He goes, when you stop, she likely is going to then say, okay, no, let's go further.
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Don't.
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Not this time.
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Wow.
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Next time, maybe.
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And he goes, if you feel one hesitation, stop.
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That's genius advice.
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I mean, no one ever gave me any advice, and I didn't know what the fuck I was doing.
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And a lot of boys could use that advice.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Well, you know, what's the other advice?
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How about the first time?
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Yes.
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Getting below the waist yeah, I always thought from looking at playboys They're standing up.
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I thought it faced east -west.
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Yes And when you find it yeah, oh shit, did I go too far?
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Oh The first time I did I swear it must have taken me two
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and a half hours to make it down I think she was like come on get on with it.
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I had no idea what I was doing I remember squatting, and she was standing.
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I didn't know what I was supposed to do.
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I was in water.
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You were in water?
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Yeah.
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Squatting?
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Yeah, I didn't know what.
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I thought, well, maybe she's going to squat, too.
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I just didn't know what to do.
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There was no porn.
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I didn't know what to do.
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How did it work out?
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It was messy.
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You had a bird's eye view.
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Yeah, but I didn't know what I was doing.
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I was shaking.
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It was just a nightmare, the whole thing.
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I'm jumping all over the place, but when you win the Academy Award, do you have a set speech planned?
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Do you go up there with a game plan?
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And, I mean, it was kind of common knowledge that you were going to win.
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I mean, it would have been a fluke if had you not at that point.
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The performance was so strong.
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I got an idea of what I want to say.
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Yeah.
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But I didn't have it scripted.
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Was it a great night?
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Yes.
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It is.
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It sure was a great night.
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Do you think of your father at that point?
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Like, oh, my God, if my old man could have seen this.
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Well, my belief is he did see it.
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He'd have loved to be around it.
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Because what I miss most about him being on it is he would have loved me sharing scripts with him
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and me talking about characters and choices and playboy things.
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That would have been a lot of fun to sit down with him
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and have beers and he would have loved Hollywood He was a ham, right?
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He would have loved coming out there.
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He'd have loved being on set.
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He'd have loved the red carpets I believe he saw it.
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I got I got a nod from him Your mother seemed to enjoy it that night too.
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Absolutely.
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She was great with the press as well.
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Absolutely.
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You know, I started off when I first got famous and mom really liked what I was doing.
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She would go off and do these interviews when I, and, and, and, I mean, sell me out.
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Yeah, what was, yeah, you know, I'm curious about that.
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What was the book your mother wrote?
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She wrote a book.
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I Amaze Myself.
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I Amaze Myself was in the name of the book.
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You know what the title of chapter 26 is? Is.
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Some people deserve to be pissed on.
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you know some actors who achieve great fame like you have would be pissed
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that their mothers wrote a book and basically she gets to write a book
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because you're famous and she's your mom it's very helpful yes
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but you did not get pissed you liked it well like i said early on in my career
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that would have pissed me off like i said she invite
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you know i had talks with you you can't you gotta understand
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when you're talking to one person with a camera you're talking to millions yeah
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but he's such a nice guy i go he's got a
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camera you're sharing all it don't do it anymore mom
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or let me know
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or call my pubs okay right i mean the next monday
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night i get phone calls are you watching hard copy your mom's on there walking a guy through you
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and this is where he lost his virginity
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and this is where i caught him in the shower playing with himself right
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and i'm calling my mom what are you doing she's like
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what i go you don't think i'm gonna know she goes
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know what i go i'm watching the show you went against
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me again she was like oh i didn't think you'd find out
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so she's doing this stuff at the beginning
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and i'm trying to find my own balance
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and i don't leave mom throwing me off right right well
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then after you know been doing this for 25 years you get to where the things you learn, you don't change people.
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I don't change my mother, nor should I.
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She was 65 at the time.
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So I'm like, you know what, mom, I'm taking the reins off.
437
Go, baby.
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Get it on on the carpet.
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Say what you want.
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Do what you want.
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Write a book.
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Go for it.
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And don't filter anything.
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That's very mature of you.
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Really.
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I mean, that's a philosophical difference, I guess, as you get older, you start to say, yeah, she is who she is and I can accept this.
447
But really, it can feel like a massive sellout.
448
There were things that you want private in your life, especially with your mom, and you get angry because you're like, well, what the fuck doesn't she see this?
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Like, that isn't something that she should be talking about.
450
Well, yeah, there's a time there where you're going, look, I don't need another funny friend.
451
I need a mom.
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Right.
453
You know, but then you go, go for it, mom.
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I mean, we're pretty rich in sense of humor, and anybody who takes themselves too seriously in our family, we'll pound you to the ground pretty quickly.
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We'll pick you up as soon as you admit it, but we'll take you down pretty quickly.
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Do you think it was your mom's own narcissism?
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She was like, I want to be famous, too.
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I want to be known.
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I want to be heard.
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Unabashedly.
461
Yeah.
462
Do you go to a therapist for that, to come to the conclusion that it's okay?
463
You've never been in therapy?
464
No. Never?
465
Never tried it?
466
Uh -uh.
467
I'm surprised for an actor that you wouldn't try something like that, just to sort of get in touch with yourself.
468
Yeah.
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I mean, I take my own, you know.
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I don't know.
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I've got my faith.
472
That's helpful.
473
I've got family, and I talk to myself quite a bit.
474
You know what I like about the career?
475
It's like after Dazed and Confused that you and Renee Zellweger did Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, right?
476
Three, I think.
477
The next generation. Was that fun?
478
Oh, blast.
479
Mechanical leg.
480
Shooting 16 hours out in Pflugerville, Texas.
481
Because when you're an actor starting out, you've got to take every role, right?
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You can't sit there and be too choosy.
483
You've got to be precious.
484
Hell no, man.
485
Like I'm saying, you're getting paid $3 .25 a day.
486
People are inviting me back, saying you're good at this.
487
I'm having a ball.
488
I'm thinking, is it even legal?
489
Right.
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hell yeah, I'm going to do it.
491
And you and Renee Zellweger weren't known.
492
I mean, both of you were, you know, so she was just starting out, too.
493
And you take that.
494
But the big movie for you was A Time to Kill, right?
495
That was the one that broke you.
496
That was the lead in a large studio picture that opened big and did well.
497
And that's a game changer once you're in a film like that.
498
Sure, absolutely.
499
And they don't think of you for the lead role, right?
500
I mean, you have to go earn that.
501
I go in to talk to the director about another role, very minor role.
502
I had a couple of scenes.
503
And I had this plan going in.
504
I said, I need to be playing this lead guy, this guy, Jake Berganz.
505
How am I going to do this?
506
So I get in the meeting with Joel Schumacher, and I said, hey, who's playing the lead role, Jake Berganz?
507
He says, I don't know.
508
Who do you think should?
509
I remember I was smoking at the time, and I remember taking the cigarette at that point and taking a nice hit and going, I think I should.
510
And he laughed.
511
He goes, that's a great idea.
512
It's never happening.
513
Da, da, da, da, da.
514
Well. Because why?
515
Because a studio isn't going to bank on someone like you.
516
You're not known at that point.
517
No way.
518
And a few things fall in my favor, I think.
519
At that time, who were they thinking about?
520
Brad Pitt?
521
I think so.
522
I think they were also thinking about Woody and then...
523
Woody Harrelson.
524
And then Costner was also spoken about it.
525
Yeah.
526
What gives you the balls to go in and say, it should be me?
527
You know, when you hear that...
528
Well, one, I believed it.
529
I thought it should be me.
530
Right.
531
Two, I knew I was taking a long shot, but I was going to...
532
I knew I had a gap of a window, and if I don't throw it out now, well, I'm not going to know and I'm going to walk out of here pissed off I didn't try.
533
Well, Joe laughs his ass off.
534
He says, hey, it's a great idea.
535
Guess what?
536
It's never happening.
537
But a little thing happened around there.
538
Sandra Bullock, who was already in the movie, is Roark.
539
Has a movie open called While You Were Sleeping.
540
It opens big.
541
All of a sudden, she can green light a movie.
542
That takes a little pressure off.
543
Well, maybe we can look around for somebody new for this role.
544
You're saying, in other words, in the movies, if you have a big star like Sandra Bullock who has broken a movie, that maybe we don't need another guy.
545
We can break somebody new.
546
There's leverage that comes with that.
547
There's box office leverage when they're running their numbers and what have you.
548
So we've got a lead role, and John Grisham gets approval of that role.
549
Right.
550
And they had somebody else in mind.
551
He didn't approve them.
552
So it's getting close to shooting.
553
The script's written.
554
The schedule's set out.
555
Everyone else is cast.
556
All of a sudden, well, let's try them out.
557
So they fly me out, and Joe Schumacher did a cool thing.
558
He did it in a little dark studio, and it was on Mother's Day, I think.
559
And it was on a Sunday.
560
And he goes, the reason we're doing it on Sunday and Mother's Day is because even if you do good, you're not going to probably get the role, and I don't want it to go against you that you tried it out for it and didn't get it.
561
Yeah, he auditions you, but the whole time he's telling you, look, you're not going to get this.
562
Maybe he was trying to make you relax by just saying you're not going to get this.
563
I think he was just telling the truth.
564
He was like, look, I'm for it, but I don't think this is going to work out.
565
I don't think the studio's ever going to approve.
566
Matthew, when you audition for something and the guy's telling you, look, you're not going to get this.
567
When you actually do the audition, are you a fucking bundle of nerves or are you able to dismiss all of this?
568
Like, this could be a career changer for me.
569
I mean, when I'm good at an audition, I'm like, fuck it.
570
Do you ever fuck up auditions or are you just good at it?
571
Absolutely and I'm better at it when I fuck it up
572
and then come back you pop the top on it
573
when the ones when I'm not good is when I've gone in
574
and left a little bit in there I didn't go far enough a lot of times
575
everyone comes to the set on the first day you're nervous
576
the best thing to do is the first scene maybe overact go big
577
make people go what the hell is he doing
578
because now you pop the balloon now you can come back down to earth
579
and relax and do it real but isn't
580
that dangerous can't they throw you out of the room if you're like oh to be or not to be Yeah, they've tried to throw me out of many audition rooms,
581
and I didn't let them.
582
Were you shocked when Schumacher gives you this role because he's telling you the whole time you're not going to get it?
583
Absolutely.
584
I got the call.
585
I was working in Piedras Negras on Lone Star with John Sayles.
586
It was, I think, about midnight in the middle of the desert.
587
I got a call from Schumacher and John Grisham and said, Do you want to be Jake Bergantz?
588
Hmm.
589
I'm like, hell yeah, I do.
590
So we were off.
591
And you and Sandra Bullock?
592
Yeah.
593
Donald Sutherland, Samuel Jackson.
594
Damn, that's a fucking movie, right?
595
Yeah.
596
These movies are like, especially when you first get into it, it's so goddamn exciting and romantic.
597
You fell in love with Sandra Bullock, right, on the set?
598
A little after the set, but I would say we started to like each other during the shooting.
599
It's almost impossible not to fall in love.
600
If you think about it, all your needs are met.
601
Unbelievable.
602
It's almost like, how can you not?
603
You're two good -looking people.
604
Your fantasies are all coming true.
605
Everything seems so incredible.
606
The danger in that is, though, when you get back into real life, there's no reality.
607
Well, sets can be built when you're single and maybe looking or open to finding.
608
They're set up to be an incredible honeymoon.
609
Yeah.
610
And you're all young and beautiful.
611
Yeah.
612
Yeah, there's a long list of why not.
613
Do you, when you look back on your career, like, for example, I guess it's somewhat known that you auditioned for Titanic, or you wanted the part.
614
No, I did, and I wanted the part.
615
The rumor is that I got the part and declined it.
616
That's false.
617
You wanted that.
618
Hell yeah.
619
And when you hear that Leonardo DiCaprio gets that role, which was so defining for him, is that defeating to you?
620
Do you start to doubt yourself as an actor?
621
Do you say, why did he get it, not me?
622
Or do you just kind of just accept it?
623
accept it and move on.
624
I was already on to the next.
625
Do you go to the movie to see how the actor handled it when you audition for something?
626
Not necessarily.
627
I don't seek it out.
628
You gotta go measure how they did.
629
The movie you turned down that you regret was L .A.
630
Confidential.
631
That would be the closest one that I saw the movie and I was like, I would have really liked to be a part of that.
632
Yeah, that was a good movie.
633
Yeah, damn right it was.
634
Blake Curtis Hanson.
635
Why'd you turn it down?
636
At that time, it was during the time to kill right
637
and time to kill just opened now you got to understand
638
that the friday before time to kill opens there's 100 scripts i do 100 of them
639
and they're only offering one right time to kill opens
640
that weekend that monday that same hundred scripts they're offering 99 right
641
so i'm going whoa three days ago i would have done any of these
642
and now you're saying hey here they all are
643
which one do you want right i needed more than 24 hours in a day
644
and i didn't know i didn't know i wasn't sure what i wanted it is crazy
645
because once you have that big hit movie and it makes over 100 million dollars or something, then all of a sudden your whole world changes, right?
646
Why at that point in your life do you decide, after a time to kill comes out, you floated down the Amazon for 21 days. Was
647
that to say, I need a break? yeah check in with me right you
648
know I mean I was smart all of a sudden the
649
world becomes as you know with fame the world becomes a mirror
650
and is the reflection true and you can start to believe it
651
so I needed to go where there wasn't a mirror
652
and I wasn't seeing myself or any people
653
that had you don't meet the hardest part about becoming famous
654
you don't meet strangers anymore right everyone's got the bio you you skip the salutations of hey how you doing
655
and maybe you don't say what do you do for the whole week
656
and isn't that dangerous for an actor
657
because you're basically supposed to be observing people can be yeah
658
so you go to the amazon and no one knows you there right nobody knows
659
so you have 21 days of uh relaxing trying to piece
660
together what it is i want to do just to put
661
myself in a quiet place to let memory catch up with me number one yeah
662
and then also go hey who am i what's going on let me get a hand on what's going on
663
and where do i want to go don't you think the
664
hollywood trap though is like after a movie like a time to kill comes out instead of going down the amazon
665
some people want to go and bask in the new fame
666
and walk down and walk through a mall and have everyone crowd them.
667
You know, I mean, that's probably the most unhealthy thing you could do.
668
Well, if it's the only thing you do, sure it is.
669
Yeah.
670
And did I have some of that too?
671
Was I enjoying the fame?
672
Absolutely.
673
Did I think it was cool as shit to go through the grocery line and see myself on two magazine covers?
674
Right.
675
You're damn right I did.
676
I bought those magazines and had a laugh with the clerk.
677
I was like, look at this.
678
You know, so I enjoyed that part too, but I needed to go check in with the M and the E.
679
And you're in the Amazon.
680
Was it a life -changing experience?
681
Yeah.
682
Yeah.
683
It was.
684
And, you know, actually what that trip was is I was literally chasing a dream that I had.
685
I had this dream.
686
It was the second time I had it.
687
I had it in 91, and then I had it then in 96.
688
Right.
689
Same dream, 11 frames, exact same dream of me floating down the Amazon.
690
Wow.
691
And so I knew to go on the Amazon was half the dream, so that's why I went, and it was perfect.
692
I need to get a backpack on, head out by myself, go somewhere where I don't speak the language, where they don't know me, where my only merit is measured on what I've done since I got there, and then by the time I leave.
693
Did you take ayahuasca when you were there?
694
No. You did not?
695
No. That's crazy.
696
Yeah.
697
You throw up, you shit your brains out, the whole thing.
698
Work it out.
699
Work it out.
700
Work it all out.
701
But then, you know, this is why I say you reinvented yourself a lot of times.
702
You become this guy afterwards, you know, after this fame, to become the romantic comedy guy.
703
You were like, hey, let me try romantic comedy.
704
Let's see how that works.
705
And these movies are fun, and they make a ton of money, right?
706
They pay well, too.
707
And in a sense, you could have stayed the romantic comedy guy.
708
You had the looks.
709
You had the ability.
710
You had the chops to do romantic comedies.
711
But then I guess that got old, too, right?
712
I think what it got was I looked at him.
713
I was like, oh, I like this.
714
It's a good one.
715
I like doing these romantic comedies.
716
But then all of a sudden, I read a script, and I was like, I think I could do this tomorrow.
717
And I was like, uh -oh.
718
And then I was like, wait a minute.
719
Not a bad thing if you feel like you can do it tomorrow, but hang on a second.
720
I want to do something that scares me a little bit that I'm not going, like, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it.
721
And you can fall into a trap, right?
722
Because people start to think of you as a romantic comedy guy and that you can't be taken seriously.
723
Because, like, when I saw you, you know, when you won the Oscar and stuff, I was like, wow, this guy reinvented himself.
724
And look at the string of Wedding Planner with Jennifer Lopez, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Kate Hudson.
725
Very launch, goes to Girlfriend's Past.
726
Yeah, look at that.
727
Sarah Jessica Parker.
728
You know, I mean, you know.
729
They're fun.
730
They're working out.
731
I'm having a good time doing them.
732
They're paying great.
733
Right.
734
I was kind of the romantic comedy go -to guy there for quite some time.
735
There's a brand that comes with that.
736
There's also what I found out later is I'm also at
737
the same time sort of getting branded as shirtless McConaughey on the beach.
738
That's how I started to think of you.
739
Yeah.
740
I started to think of the guy I see in People magazine.
741
He's always on vacation.
742
He's always running on the beach.
743
And he's running on the beach without a shirt.
744
And I've got to say, he was quite impressive.
745
And guess what?
746
I was running on the beach every day without a shirt.
747
It looked like a pretty good life damn, and I was like yeah
748
Couldn't the lifestyle have been do a romantic comedy one
749
or two a year and run on the beach with your shirt off I mean
750
and and and and live happily ever after road, and we're all happy, but that wouldn't have been satisfying to you No,
751
I think I need it look and it was also a time where I was just
752
Falling for my now wife Miller so things going on
753
and around this time I think maybe it's just before this
754
but I'm about to have our first son Levi right now
755
you got children no he does I do okay first child
756
yeah you ever felt more clean clear masculine than the birth
757
of your first child it was an amazing experience every one of them and
758
when you have it a man should double down on anything
759
he's thinking about in his life in those months following right
760
when they have a kid is
761
that what happened for you I just said wow look how
762
exciting my my life is right I'm I have more joy I laugh louder.
763
I have more pain.
764
I have more sadness, but man, it's dynamic.
765
And I'm like going, my work is not challenging as near as exciting as my life.
766
And I said, yes, rather be that way than the other way.
767
But let's take some time out to maybe find some work
768
that scares me or turns me on as much as my life is turning.
769
So you have enough money at that point.
770
So you take a year
771
and a half basically off i just say no to a bunch of i say no right
772
so all i'm doing is saying no to things for a
773
while is your agent saying to you at
774
that point what the fuck is wrong with no this is a great thing about my agent jim toth
775
and i had that conversation with him
776
because i said look i'm going to change may i'm going
777
to change gears here i'm not going to do any more romantic comedies for a
778
while i'm not going to do any action comedies
779
and he doesn't say to you you're nuts he says great let's do it
780
and i went don't tell me great let's do it i
781
go walking away pretty good cash cow with you guys for a while.
782
So on that Monday morning meeting you're about to have, and your boss is like, what do you mean McConaughey's taking off?
783
Don't tell me it's that easy.
784
He goes, I work for you.
785
And that was it.
786
But it's also psychologically debilitating because it is a big risk.
787
Because in Hollywood, you know, Hollywood is littered with guys who walk away from a certain niche, and you never see them again.
788
You know, it is a big risk in a career.
789
And you know saying no is the hardest fucking thing in the world, right?
790
No, it's hard, and you also know how damn powerful it is.
791
See, I would think you need therapy to learn how to say no to these enticing offers, to be with a beautiful actress, in a movie, make a lot of money, and have a big box office success.
792
The scary part was I didn't know how long it was going to be dry.
793
Right.
794
You expected it to be shorter.
795
No, I didn't have an expectation.
796
I mean, I had a talk with my money man.
797
He said, I'm financially set.
798
It's okay if I don't work.
799
I had a talk with my now wife, Camilla, and she goes, I know how you are when you're not working.
800
You get a little wobbly.
801
And she goes, what
802
if it goes on for two years? right I go I'm gonna need you sitting there saying hold the course
803
and so we just hunkered down had a first child
804
that sure helped get through the days right all right that's a lot to work on yeah
805
and then you know I say in that time I unbranded now
806
that the hard part about saying no and I always like to say this
807
because people go wow it was such a pure decision you really are so pure
808
and I'm like hang on a second I said no the
809
same script with a five million dollar offer is much more
810
well -written than the same script with the one million dollar offer.
811
That's right.
812
I'm not that pure.
813
I go, oh, this is funnier.
814
I can make this work.
815
I got new angles.
816
This could really, I can do the song and dance.
817
You ended up working with some of Hollywood's most successful directors.
818
It turned out to be a really good decision.
819
And you made some pretty damn good movies.
820
In terms of directors, were they taking you seriously when you come out of that romantic comedy world into drama?
821
What I think is the year and a half being gone and not showing up in another romantic comedy, not being all over the pages running on the beach with my shirt off, which I was still doing.
822
I was just doing it where the cameras weren't.
823
I think what I call is an unbranding stage.
824
So what I think is some directors, all of a sudden, I became a new good idea.
825
Right.
826
You know what an interesting idea would be McConaughey, blah, blah, blah, blah.
827
So William Friedkin comes with Killer Joe, Soderbergh comes with Magic Mark, Jeff Nichols had already written Mudd, we go do Paperboy.
828
Magic Mike, taking that movie, you would have thought, that was pretty risky, right?
829
I mean, on paper, that probably looked ridiculous, right?
830
What was risky about that?
831
That was a no -brainer.
832
Yeah, but I don't know that I would have known reading that script that it would be that big a movie.
833
One, Steven Soderbergh.
834
Right.
835
He pitches it to me, one, him as a director.
836
Right.
837
Yes.
838
Steven Soderbergh hadn't called me before then.
839
Right.
840
I would love to work through, and he calls.
841
This is a good day.
842
So then he pitches and he goes, I got this guy and he runs the nightclub and he's a male stripper and if you play this,
843
he's really serious capitalist, if you play it straight I think it could be really funny.
844
And I'm like on my knees laughing going, okay, I'm in, just give me one line to take from this phone call just to get my imagination going on the character.
845
He takes a long pause and he goes, well, and the character's name's Dallas, he goes, Dallas I said, he is kind of connected to the UFOs, man.
846
And I'm like, that's it?
847
Well, you just took the lid off.
848
Thank you.
849
And after Magic Mike, that's when Dallas Buyers Club happens, right?
850
Yeah, I have a hold of the script, Dallas Buyers Club, for a while.
851
But no one's going to finance and make it with me.
852
Why?
853
Again, no one could see you in it.
854
We've still got some hangover from, wait a minute, I'm not sure that this is the right guy.
855
Is it going to be worth it?
856
Can he do it?
857
Blah, blah, blah.
858
I see a film called Crazy, which I loved with Jean -Marc Vallée.
859
We meet here in New York, he loves the script, wants to do it, I want to do it, and there we were.
860
We were off.
861
But then, even that, we willed that picture into happening.
862
I was saying, and he was saying, we're making it in October, when we didn't have any money to make it.
863
We were talking out of our ass.
864
We were bullshitting.
865
But the thing is, we didn't flinch.
866
So every other script would come in, this is for October, and I'd tell my agent, why are you showing me another script?
867
We're doing Dallas Buyers Club.
868
And people were behind the scenes going, you're not really doing it, there's no financing.
869
And we're like, yes, we are.
870
Because no one believed it could be a financial success.
871
Yes, we are.
872
Yes, we are.
873
And so I get a call eight days before we go to shoot Dallas Buyers Club from Jean -Marc.
874
And he says, the director, he goes, Matthew, I had needed to have a minimum of seven and a half million dollars to make this movie.
875
And all of a sudden I found out that I have less than five.
876
I don't know how I can make this movie.
877
But if you will be there on day one, I will show up as well.
878
Eight days before.
879
That is crazy.
880
We show up in eight days.
881
In that eight days, he scrapped the grip department, which for those of you who don't know, it's lighting.
882
The only light on the entire set was a headlight from the car that pulled me up.
883
And so that's not a big money offer for you.
884
It's probably like 200 grand to make that movie.
885
That's a labor of love.
886
Maybe, yeah.
887
We'll make it for $4 .9 million and we go make it.
888
When you're on a set, do you have to be in character the whole time?
889
I would rather be.
890
Right.
891
That's fun.
892
That's not a pain in the ass.
893
Most actors think that's cuckoo.
894
No, it's not cuckoo.
895
Look, all actors have their different things they do.
896
If it's constructive to doing the best work, hey, man, pour gas on the fire.
897
Let's go. Do it.
898
Now, if you have these things you do that are not constructive, if that means, oh, you're not coming out of the trailer for five hours to work, well, that's bullshit.
899
Right.
900
But do what you go for.
901
We're playing make -believe.
902
Let's make them believe.
903
Well, the other guy who does it, the guy who won, Daniel Day -Lewis, who played Lincoln.
904
Daniel Day -Lewis, you can't argue with that.
905
Yeah, right, that guy.
906
And who knows where he is in between.
907
Did you learn that technique from an acting school where you stay in character the whole time, or is that something you picked up on a set?
908
No, it's just, it's fun.
909
Do you do that on a romantic comedy when you were in that kind of phase of your career?
910
I didn't all of a sudden have a turn where I became a serious actor.
911
Right.
912
I worked as hard to break down the rom -com scripts
913
and had as many earmarked pages and notes and pages of things
914
that I'd written and tried to improvise in those as I do in any other film I've done recently.
915
It's just a different, they're a different type of movie.
916
Yeah, right.
917
Those are Saturday movies.
918
They're supposed to be point.
919
You go cloud to cloud.
920
If you drop anchor, you sink the ship in those.
921
When you decided to do the TV series, True Detective, I wondered, did your agent at that point say, no, no, no, you're a film actor, don't do this?
922
Once again, no. I thought about that.
923
We discussed that being TV and is that, what about that move from film TV, for about eight seconds.
924
Really?
925
And then said, it's quality, man.
926
I don't give a damn what screen it's on.
927
Look at the quality of this script.
928
Don't you think actors sometimes, I'm talking about successful actors, overthink that bullshit too much?
929
Because, like, if you had overthought that, that's one of the best roles you ever did, right?
930
Don't you agree?
931
Absolutely.
932
And a good experience, I imagine.
933
Absolutely.
934
But I was also going to say, why did you decide I'm only going to do this one right at the very beginning?
935
Well, that's all there was.
936
Oh, really?
937
And so then they, you know, I don't know when the plans were to have the second season, but in its success of the first season, that helped.
938
They went off.
939
But it was never going to be Woody and I returning.
940
Yeah, you wouldn't have been interested in that anyway, I don't think.
941
I think it was like a one -shot deal.
942
If another one came around, I'd sure give it a read.
943
Sure.
944
You know?
945
Do you think you finally got, I mean, you used to be on the cover of magazines saying you're the sexiest man in the world and all that.
946
Alive.
947
Alive.
948
And that's heady stuff right do you think you finally settled down with your wife
949
because she was the one woman you know here you are
950
the most handsome guy in high school she was the one
951
woman who told you no she kind of rejected you at first right isn't
952
that how the story goes i mean i i kidnapped her for our first date
953
that what happened she turned you down right she didn't really
954
turn me down she i mean she beautiful woman yeah so
955
so i'm healthily single at a club on sunset i'm not
956
even a club guy this night I was a club guy
957
and I'm making margaritas at the end of the table
958
and I mean this this this figure moves across the the room
959
and I remember to myself I go what is
960
that I didn't say who is that I said what is
961
that like an extraterrestrial yeah it's down
962
and I can't get my eyes off her
963
and I'm waving trying to get over there and finally catch her eye
964
and soon as she looks at me I'm to the Jiminy
965
Cricket mayor says boy get off your ass this is not
966
the type of woman you call across the room I go over
967
and introduce myself I do do the smart thing of inviting her and her friends over.
968
How do you introduce yourself?
969
Do you say, hi?
970
Hi, I'm Matthew McConaughey.
971
Right, and everyone knows who you are.
972
Does she try to act like she doesn't know who you are?
973
No, no. No, she knows.
974
She's aware you're in the room.
975
Yeah, I think she's, yeah.
976
But I mean, she's not, wow, but she's also not going, oh, really?
977
Are you really?
978
You know, she's straight, and I go, would you and your friends like, come over, have a drink?
979
Which then, she came by herself.
980
Oh.
981
Now we sit down, music's playing.
982
I make a margarita.
983
That night, I spoke 25 minutes of the best Spanish I've ever spoken in my life.
984
She spoke Portuguese.
985
I don't think I've ever understood Portuguese as well as I did that night.
986
You were really focused.
987
Oh, man, I was focused.
988
She was speaking to you in a row.
989
Oh, it worked.
990
So then it was time to go home, and I was like, oh, and she had gotten in a car wreck earlier that night.
991
Yes.
992
And our car was getting impounded, so I was like, oh, well, listen, you know, come with us.
993
Yes.
994
She comes with us.
995
Who's the us?
996
This is a bunch of dudes?
997
This is me, my buddy Lance, a couple of other buddies, Chad.
998
Guys you hang with.
999
Yeah.
1000
All right.
1001
So we go back to the house and continue to party for a while.
1002
And I'm trying to extend the time.
1003
I'm trying to extend the time.
1004
And now she's like, okay, I'm going to go get a cab.
1005
I'm like, no, no, no, don't do that.
1006
It's way too late.
1007
Take the guest bedroom.
1008
Talk her into that.
1009
I did sneak down to the guest bedroom twice that night.
1010
You got booted out.
1011
You did.
1012
Oh, that's the rejection.
1013
She's played it smart.
1014
Here's the great moment.
1015
Not even a kiss.
1016
No. Nothing.
1017
Here's the moment.
1018
Here's the cool moment that I went, wow.
1019
The next morning, I'm the last one up, 10 .30 in the morning.
1020
I come down the stairs, and there's a hallway that leads to the kitchen that you can see.
1021
Coming down the stairs, I'm hearing this laughter, the kind of laughter of people that hang out a lot.
1022
And I walk in, and there sits this woman in the same green turquoise dress she had on last night,
1023
holding court with my buddies in our housekeeper eating breakfast like they'd been buddies for 10 years.
1024
And that turned you on.
1025
I went.
1026
Because you need a woman who's going to get along with your pals.
1027
Well, I need a woman who, that's a woman who knows herself.
1028
Right.
1029
That's a woman who's comfortable.
1030
That's not a woman who's playing the juvenile, oh, I'm wearing the same dress.
1031
There's no walk of shame she stayed over
1032
and she knows who she is and that I asked her out obviously
1033
that night oh here's the second best thing I had one
1034
she's laughing with my friends too now I'm gonna give her
1035
a drive 45 minutes away to go pick up her car I got this new album
1036
that I had produced this guy named Mishka we listened to
1037
the album on the way 45 minutes didn't say a word to each other Wow
1038
so she's a 45 minutes so that turned you on too
1039
because you don't want someone in your life who's got a
1040
constantly like an umbilical cord have a constant there was no nervous tension
1041
and i didn't have it and she's comfortable enough to sit there
1042
and we're comfortable enough to sit there
1043
and the signs you weren't uncomfortable going hey is she bored
1044
with this uh for 45 minutes of listening to music absolutely not it was good music yeah
1045
so you were cut you were relaxed with her very relaxed
1046
so then i drop her off
1047
and i do get a kiss with a i got about a quarter of an inch of a lip
1048
and i asked her out and she says i can't go out it's my dad's birthday right that's another the turn on. Does that.
1049
Right.
1050
And I ask her at the next night.
1051
She can't.
1052
I ask her at the next night.
1053
She comes.
1054
And I cook her dinner.
1055
Don't you think most women around you would be like, oh, Matthew McConaughey just asked me out, fuck my father's birthday.
1056
I'm going.
1057
You know, so the fact that she's able to.
1058
I would hope not, but I hear you.
1059
But your fact that she was able to say, hey, I got a life to conduct here.
1060
I just met you, genius.
1061
And I'll be with you in a couple of days.
1062
Absolutely.
1063
What did you cook for her?
1064
But she's not just saying it.
1065
That's who she is.
1066
What's that?
1067
I said that she's not just saying it.
1068
No, I mean, that's who she is.
1069
That's who she was.
1070
You see, my life is I meet a woman, and I have to immediately entertain her, and I have to start juggling.
1071
What did you cook for her?
1072
What did I cook?
1073
Did I grill ribeyes?
1074
I think I might have grilled ribeyes, or maybe I made a pasta, and we ate out on the porch at a great little one -bedroom place
1075
that Dennis Hopper used to live in in Malibu.
1076
It was one -bedroom, like a little loft on the beach.
1077
Look at you on the beach.
1078
Son of a gun.
1079
And who are these buddies?
1080
Took my shirt off when jogging.
1081
Yeah, nice.
1082
You're smart.
1083
And who are these guys?
1084
Like Lance is what?
1085
Lance Armstrong?
1086
Lance Armstrong.
1087
Yeah, right.
1088
That night it was a buddy with my buddy Lance, another buddy, Chad Mountain.
1089
I mean, you know, you're hanging out with some good -looking dudes.
1090
You know, she could have gone with one of them.
1091
Oh, they had no chance.
1092
They had no chance.
1093
You were zeroed in.
1094
Zeroed in.
1095
Yes.
1096
Do you get upset when Jim Carrey made fun of the commercials?
1097
Do you like that?
1098
I mean, I take it as a compliment.
1099
It's kind of flattering.
1100
It is, right?
1101
What are you thinking during those commercials?
1102
Because sometimes you scare me.
1103
Well, those are an ad -lib kind of thing.
1104
I work on the script with you guys.
1105
I mean, like, so the first one, I'm talking to myself, Socratic.
1106
And no one else is in the car.
1107
Second one, I'm talking to dogs.
1108
And this latest one, we decided on the set, I was like, well, I should be talking to myself, but I should be in the back seat while I'm in the driver's seat.
1109
The McConaughey thing is like, hey, McConaughey is a little crazy, right?
1110
I mean, isn't that sort of the message?
1111
He's a little bit of a free thinker.
1112
It's got a nice wink to it.
1113
I mean, I'm enjoying it and I'm in on the joke.
1114
And you're laughing at yourself.
1115
Some actors, they don't want to make commercials.
1116
You're like, hey, fuck you.
1117
I'll make commercials, right?
1118
You don't worry about what people think.
1119
You can worry about it, but who the hell knows, man.
1120
I'm enjoying it.
1121
You're having fun.
1122
And I think they're cool.
1123
And a lot of people are doing that today anyway.
1124
Much more so.
1125
Yeah.
1126
Look, that thing you talked about earlier, from film to TV, that used to be much more of a taboo thought than it is now.
1127
No, it's not.
1128
No. Talk to me about this movie Gold.
1129
Now, when you choose a movie, now that you're so successful, you win the Academy Award, all of this, you could choose any movie you want.
1130
Why choose the movie Gold?
1131
First read, I was like, wow.
1132
Even if this wasn't based on a true story, this is worth putting on the film.
1133
Are you the producer of this movie?
1134
Yes.
1135
I'm a producer on the movie as well.
1136
Do you do that a lot?
1137
No. And I don't want to do it a lot.
1138
Why?
1139
Because it's so much more work?
1140
Yeah, and it's an objective hat.
1141
And when I'm acting, I don't want to be objective.
1142
I don't want to be my guy and see the world from the inside out of my man and that's it.
1143
I don't want to have to take off that hat and then say, well, let's consider what the best idea is here.
1144
Because what does it mean when you're the producer?
1145
Because sometimes people just slap their name on a film.
1146
Well, this was, I want to be a producer on this because of the initial read, besides loving the character Kenny Wells.
1147
I could smell the world.
1148
I knew the world.
1149
I knew the relationships.
1150
I felt like instinctually.
1151
I didn't have to intellectualize it.
1152
I was like, I know this place.
1153
I know this journey.
1154
I know everybody in it.
1155
So as a producer, you're helping guide the overall story.
1156
Right.
1157
How it goes.
1158
And Stephen Gagin came on.
1159
He knew the world and we were off to make it.
1160
And so when you decide to make it, you can get any movie greenlit pretty much, right?
1161
I mean, if you say you're going to be in gold.
1162
It helps.
1163
It helps a lot.
1164
Sure.
1165
If you were going to pitch this movie to someone in Hollywood and say, hey, we want to make this movie.
1166
It's really an adventurer kind of movie, right?
1167
It's a guy who makes it against all odds.
1168
Against, I mean, there's like millions of people who were never going to get a ticket to the American dream.
1169
And this guy literally has a dream.
1170
What's his dream?
1171
He has a dream that he ran across this guy in Indonesia eight years ago, and that guy knows where the gold is.
1172
It's all about finding the gold.
1173
And the next day, he hawks his girlfriend's watch that he gave her, buys a one -way ticket to Indonesia, and makes it happen.
1174
And guys like that are always usually nine times out of ten fucking losers, right?
1175
Because they dream about it.
1176
They're going to go find gold.
1177
It's like being an old prospector in the Old West.
1178
And those guys don't find any gold.
1179
Most people don't find it.
1180
Absolutely not.
1181
But this guy found it.
1182
This guy actually finds it.
1183
Did you base the character on your dad?
1184
Well, there was a real guy, David Walsh, who it was based on.
1185
And after I did the facts on him biographically, then it was I looked at my own life that I know the Kenny Welles of the world.
1186
And a lot of it was through who my dad was and who he dealt with in a lot of business dealings.
1187
My dad was a guy who woke up every morning, threw his legs over the side of bed and said, today's going to be the day.
1188
And his line was, I'm going to hit a lick.
1189
Boys, I'm going to hit a lick.
1190
An oil lick.
1191
And he didn't hit that lick.
1192
No. And it went on and on and on for days, weeks, months, years until he passed away.
1193
He didn't hit that lick, but every day, I'm going to hit a lick.
1194
And we were rolling in the dough in the 70s when the oil boom hit, and then it dropped in 82, and we were broke, and you couldn't tell the difference.
1195
He was still the host.
1196
He was still a consumer of life.
1197
We're going to eat.
1198
We're going to drink.
1199
We're going to smoke.
1200
We're going to, yes, he was Captain Fun.
1201
Your dad, by the way, wasn't he drafted by a professional football team?
1202
Green Bay Packers, 1953.
1203
Right.
1204
So this is a guy who ate life up, right?
1205
Yeah, he was Jim the Bear McConaughey.
1206
So is that what you do when you start to prepare for a character like in Gold?
1207
You say, hey, okay, the old man was this badass, I'm a badass.
1208
Here's what it is.
1209
No, no, no, here's what it is.
1210
He would take me around the country.
1211
We'd go office to office to people who owed him money.
1212
Right.
1213
And you bring your 12 -year -old son, you can shame some people into paying money back, and it worked.
1214
You were the prop.
1215
Yeah, it was a good prop.
1216
So he'd also take me, and I remember this one particular story.
1217
He says, it's December 24th, day before Christmas.
1218
He says, hey, buddy, let's go get some stocking stuffers.
1219
We hop in the car.
1220
We're going to go to Kmart.
1221
Yeah.
1222
He gets off the exit off of 59, about five exits early, and pulls into this abandoned one -story shopping mall.
1223
Graffiti, broken windows.
1224
We go around the back, broken down power lines, dumpsters, and a white van that flashes its lights at us.
1225
We pull up next to the van.
1226
Pop says, stay in the car.
1227
This is Chicago John.
1228
And I'm like, this is great.
1229
What's happening?
1230
He gets out of the car, leaves it running.
1231
And the Chicago John gets out, little short guy, 5 '4", balding head, black leather jacket.
1232
Goes to the back of his van.
1233
There's washing machines, blow dryers, you know, kitchen sink.
1234
He's a moving pawn shop.
1235
He grabs this shoebox, pulls out of it something wrapped up in a bunch of paper towels.
1236
He goes over to my father and he's standing in front of him.
1237
Whatever he showed my dad, I remember seeing my dad's shoulders go up.
1238
And that's what he would do and he'd get all excited.
1239
And then I saw that universal move of my dad's elbow going like this.
1240
And he's counting off bills or whatever's in that.
1241
box.
1242
He comes back to the car, and I remember he's coming back to the car, it's only a 20 -foot walk, he's looking up in the sky like maybe they're after me when helicopters or something.
1243
No, they're not after, what are you talking about?
1244
But he gets in the car, he hands it to me, he says, put it in the glove box, make sure no one gets it.
1245
I put it in the glove box, I don't know what it is.
1246
We drive for a while, he says, open up the glove box, see if it's still there.
1247
So I reach in this thing, is this a fucking ferret?
1248
what is it what's going on I open up this paper towels
1249
and there's this big silver watch
1250
and night my dad gets the biggest smile on his face
1251
and he goes god damn buddy that's a twenty two thousand dollar titanium Rolex
1252
and I just bought it for three grand
1253
that watch wasn't worth 500 bucks right but
1254
that it was the doing of the deal
1255
so at 16 17 years old looking through the passenger window
1256
at the back of my dad's shoulders counting off money to
1257
Chicago John behind the abandoned strip mall that's Kenny Wells I see
1258
so that's the guy you know that guy interaction is that world
1259
so you have to know the guy in order to play
1260
the guy right that's how it comes down to well you sure it sure does help
1261
and the thing is you know you an actor tries to know the guy
1262
and you for this one I knew him automatically sometimes you work your ass off to figure out who it is.
1263
And you don't find it until the first day of shooting.
1264
Sometimes you never find it.
1265
Yeah, but where do you find somebody like the guy in Interstellar?
1266
He looked at Fred.
1267
What do you think?
1268
Fred from out of space, right?
1269
But really, where do you get Interstellar?
1270
Because that seems like a departure from the guys you play.
1271
There's no one to base it on that's gone to Saturn.
1272
Yeah.
1273
Okay?
1274
But he's a father.
1275
He's a father.
1276
He's a guy who his dream was to be an astronaut, And he got grounded when he lost his wife and had to stay on earth to take care of his kids.
1277
And he gets a second chance to go live out his dream.
1278
And that comes with consequences.
1279
And that comes with, you know, as you learn how time works.
1280
And he's away from his kids and he missed their entire life.
1281
Listen, Matthew, it's good to see you.
1282
It's been like 15 years since I last saw you.
1283
I love that you came in.
1284
Yeah, we've seen you at the beginning and now at the height.
1285
I know I'm getting the high sign that you have to get out of here.
1286
So I'll let you go.
1287
Listen, what are you going to do?
1288
I have you for so much time and that's it.
1289
We'll do it again.
1290
That's right.
1291
Matthew McConaughey, everyone.
1292
Thank you, Matthew.
1293
I really do appreciate you coming in.
1294
My pleasure.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Matthew McConaughey”. This video has 1294 sentences and 12047 words to shadow. The speech runs for 51:19. The speaker talks fast, about 235 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| script noun | /skɹɪpt/ | A writing; a written document. |
| romantic adjective | /ɹoʊˈmæn(t)ɪk/ | Fantastic, unrealistic (of an idea etc.); fanciful, sentimental, impractical (of a person). |
| buddy | /ˈbʌdi/ | A person far removed from the conversation. |
| sudden adjective | /ˈsʌd.ən/ | Occurring quickly with little or no warning or expectation; instantly. |
| confused adjective | /kənˈfjuːzd/ | unable to think clearly or understand |
| audition noun | /ɑˈdɪʃən/ | A performance, by an aspiring performer, to demonstrate suitability or talent. |
| fame noun | /feɪm/ | One's reputation. |
| lick verb | /lɪk/ | To stroke with the tongue. |
| producer noun | /pɹəˈdjuːsə/ | An individual or organization that creates goods and services. |
| bedroom noun | /ˈbɛdˌɹum/ | A room in a house, apartment, hotel, or other dwelling where a bed is kept for sleeping. |
| invite verb | /ɪnˈvaɪt/ | To ask for the presence or participation of someone or something. |
| relax verb | /ɹɪˈlæks/ | To make something loose. |
| handsome adjective | /ˈhæn.səm/ | Having a pleasing appearance, good-looking, attractive, particularly |
| bee noun | /ˈbiː/ | A flying insect, of the clade Anthophila within the hymenopteran superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies (though only a minority have them), for… |
| pitch noun | /pɪt͡ʃ/ | A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| break down verb | To stop functioning. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. | |
| work out verb | /ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/ | To calculate. |
| come back verb | To return to a place. | |
| come down verb | To descend, fall down, collapse. | |
| count off verb | To count (a number of things), typically aloud. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- You know what I'm so fascinated about your life?
- Do you believe there's something cosmic about that?
- Do you think it was your mom's own narcissism?
- You've never been in therapy?
- I'm thinking, is it even legal?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to be · used to live |
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | If another one came around, I'd sure |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've made · you've been · haven't done |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | were voted · be carried · be pissed |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 398 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: athlete /ˈæθ.liːt/, leather /ˈlɛðɚ/, worthy /ˈwɝ.ði/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: audition /ɑˈdɪʃən/, sheet /ʃit/, shock /ʃɔk/, wash /wɑʃ/, conclusion /kənˈkluːʒən/
- Long words — get the stress right: unbelievable /ˌʌnbɪˈliːvəbl̩/, universal /ˌjunəˈvɜɹs(ə)l/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, ridiculous /ɹɪˈdɪk.jə.ləs/, mechanical /məˈkænəkəl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like script, romantic, buddy.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.