A chat with Matthew McConaughey
Amy Royster
Cox News Service
Apr. 8, 2005 12:00 AM
MIAMI -- On really good days, you have a little Matthew McConaughey in the morning and a perfect turkey club for lunch.
The sun above Miami, where you rendezvous, is warm. Matthew pulls two chairs together under a tree in the Delano hotel's grassy courtyard where you sit and talk with him about his new movie "Sahara," and about what kind of man he is.
He looks in your eyes, leaning close enough to make it clear he is completely focused. (Or maybe he's acting. Who knows? Who cares?) You notice his fine clothes, his wavy hair and the blond stubble on his chin. You listen to his Texas-steeped voice soften consonants, pouring them out like sweet tea.
And you like him.
As you part company he thoughtfully says, "Don't forget your purse, Dear." You smile, he smiles. His eyes crinkle at the edges.
You float away toward a table on the terrace where you order your favorite sandwhich off the hotel's menu, with its soft bread and apple-smoked bacon.
The MM cloud of charm does not lift until you are back at work - in the accounting department, or clothing shop, or factory, or newsroom ...
OK, OK. So it wasn't you sitting across from him. It was me!
And for the sake of all MM fans who fawned over him in "A Time to Kill " and who didn't get to spend 30 minutes alone with him, I won't pretend to be an unbiased journalist. I admit, we didn't talk about the craft of acting, or the "physicality" of his role (which I overheard other reporters discussing with grave seriousness after the press screening of "Sahara" ). I'm not going to call his director or his mother's cousin to find out what he was like on set or as a child.
He's not as much of a redneck as you might think
The man who just finished a road trip tour of America's RV parks (with Airstream trailer in tow) to promote "Sahara," and the man who was grand marshal for this year's Daytona 500, is the same man who cleans up for interviews at one of the swankiest hotels in Miami Beach in a linen suit, baby blue button-down shirt, blue socks and brown Puma shades. So, how much of the good ol' boy persona is a shtick?
"Well, I mean. I've always loved to drive. I am from Texas. I guess it's how you define good old boy. The Daytona 500 was super cool. I mean not only did I get to grand marshal, I got to do 150 with Jimmie Johnson driving around the track.
"I'll say this, this whole thing I'm doing is the opposite of a shtick actually. ... I would have been out driving around, camping in America anyway, I just wouldn't have had 5,000 T-shirts and hats I've handed out and I wouldn't have had interviews at the trailer parks and I wouldn't have had the Airstream."
But he is every bit as down-to-earth as you think.
During the promotional tour, McConaughey got a kick out of playing the "Surprise! It's A Movie Star In An RV Park" game.
"I like getting out because I can meet people that I don't know, and also I get to see some real honest living, some real honest circumstances out there, whether it's in a trailer park, whether it's in a truck stop, whether it's people in new cities and places ... After we get over the five minutes of 'What in the hell are you doing, McConaughey, driving around in an Airstream out here?' We're on level after that."
At the end of several weeks of driving (Yes, he really drove himself) all around America, McConaughey is still psyched.
"I wasn't even as exhausted after it, even though it was a lot of work, because you get on the road, you pull into a place, a village, and then when you pull out, it's like you're reset. You're revived again and you get to go to a new place, meet new faces, look 'em in the eye.
"So this idea was a grassroots sort of rock 'n' roll campaign. Let's go door-to-door sales, man."
And he touched my knee - sort of!
McConaughey also liked playing the "Surprise! It's a Movie Star Driving Down the Road" game. When I ask if he got any unusual gestures while driving the Airstream, he cracked up.
"So this is cool. This is cool. ... You'd see in the rearview mirror ... They'd pull up and then they'd see me driving and they'd get the biggest kick because they'd go, 'Wait a minute. What are you doing driving?' And then by the end of the trip, one out of eight cars already knew I was on the road, so they'd zoom up to the side, roll down the window and give me something, some kind of incentive, some kind of yell or something.
"We did get some flashes. Some that were nice to see. Some that we could have done without seeing."
And this is where, after the second "This is cool," that he lightly touches the tip of my knee! It's the kind of moment that might send some fans, er, less professional journalists, in search of a way to preserve their blue jeans. (Don't send e-mails, after showing my denim-clad knee around the office, I finally washed them).
Is he the next Indiana Jones?
"Sahara," based on Clive Cussler's novels, is about the treasure hunting adventures of Dirk Pitt. The action adventure books appeal to McConaughey who says he has been looking for such a character to play for 10 years.
"Either the characters that I would read were too much "Roadhouse " or they were too much James Bond, where they never really got their hands dirty. And this was a guy who was on both sides. A lover before a fighter, but if he had to fight he could whip some ass. I like to say he could wrestle the alligator Saturday morning, dance with the queen Saturday night."
He also says he has been looking for a "franchise character: " "If people like Sahara, we've got about 14 other stories to tell."
He doesn't take himself or 'Sahara' too seriously
When I say I think "Sahara " is a good ride, McConaughey says, "Right on."
When I point out that it is also full of implausible action scenes on boats, on trains, even on camels, McConaughey agrees.
"You can tell in the first 30 minutes what movie you're in. It's one of the things I'm most proud of this film. It knows who it is, what it is.
"It's fun and always has a wink in its eye."
His Southern accent really is lovely in person
This isn't a fact that's lost on him.
"They say that whatever diction I have or rhythm, that it's comforting. And for most roles that's nice. It's a particular voice. It's a particular sound that is more than Southern. It's also mine, and seems to be, I don't know, pleasing to the ear, you know?"
Oh, yes. I know.
McConaughey's accent in person isn't quite as heavy as that of Southern lawyer Jake Brigance in "A Time to Kill."
"You listen to my accent even now and it's not as strong because I'm just talking to you out here under a tree in the back yard, so it's a very relaxed situation."
He says he never worried his accent would be a disadvantage, even though people look at him funny at first, sometimes.
"Whether I've got a Southern accent or not doesn't mean a guy from the South doesn't go to New York and handle business."
Was he really that hot in 'A Time to Kill'?
Of the role that required his shirt be stuck to his chest with sweat most of the film, he admits to a little help from a water spritzer.
"It was hot, but (director) Joel Schumacher wanted to make sure there was a lot of sweat in that movie. It wasn't always as hot as maybe it looked. It was a pretty perspired cast the entire way through."
He's got a sad story about a dog
McConaughey says he started taking road trips as a teenager. He's made countless trips around Texas, some to Mexico and one through the northwest up to Vancouver. But it's a trip he took from L.A. to Miami with his dog, Ms. Hudd, that stands out most.
Ms. Hudd was diagnosed with cancer in Louisiana, had a leg amputated in Florida and died in California on the last day of the trip.
"We went swimming in a lot of rivers. We'd just pull over and get out and stay for half a day at rivers or lakes and throw sticks and have a great time. ... Made it all the way back to California, pulled in the driveway and that night, it was like she escorted me home. It was like she got me home and then went, 'Whew, I'm done.' It was a sad trip, but a great trip."
He's equal parts a do-it-yourself man and a hire-it-done man
Signs he's a do-it-yourself man: He hooked up the electric, septic and water on the Airstream himself during the Sahara tour. He loves to cook. And he likes traveling with nothing but a back pack.
"Something breaks, I've got to fix it. I like that. Keeps my hands in the clay, so to speak."
Signs he's a hire-it-done man: He enjoys nice hotels where he can get a massage, room service and where "someone feeds me some strawberries down in the spa."
The two sides of McConaughey - down home boy and movie star - feed off each other.
"When I'm in Los Angeles or in my home or staying in nice places it makes me respect more either going on the road or going off and floating the Amazon River ... But when I come back from there, man do I love my nice sheets and do I love my beautiful food and my nice kitchen and my housekeeper, absolutely."
Verdict? When it comes to traditional manly-man activities, I believe him when he says, "I may not always want to do it, but I sure want to be able to do it."
He worries that women won't go see 'Sahara'
It's more than humility. McConaughey expressed concern that women may not show up for "Sahara " a couple of times during our chat.
"Are you going to let women know it's for them, too? Because a lot of times women don't think that action films are for them, you know."
Action-shmaction. Doesn't he think some moviegoers who find him attractive might go just to see him?
"Oh, right on," is all he would say.
I mean, all those bicep-flashing muscle shirt shots didn't wind up in "Sahara " by accident, did they?
"Yeah, I was in shape. Dirk Pitt's in great shape. I got in shape for Dirk Pitt and the action hero adventure.”
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