McConaughey eyes 'Sahara' sequels
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20050616woa8.htm

Traveling across golden sand at 65 kph hitched to a land yacht was a major adrenaline rush, said actor Matthew McConaughey while visiting Tokyo to promote his new film, Sahara.

An action adventure based on the Clive Cussler novel of the same name, Sahara was filmed on location, with the 36-year-old star doing most of his own stunts in the lead role of adventurer Dirk Pitt.

"I don't like it when I see films [in which] you see the guy or the girl, and they're about to do the stunt, and you've gotten to know them. All of a sudden you cut to the wide shot--and you go, oh, that was a stuntman," he said in an interview with The Daily Yomiuri.

Only a safety wire and the strength in his arms held McConaughey above the ground while he jetted across the desert, leaning out of the land yacht as he strained to keep its sail into the wind--what he described as his most difficult stunt in the film.

"The safety wire saved my butt one time because it would not have been a soft fall," he confessed, adding that the hours he spent hanging onto the sail left his arms feeling like noodles.

In preparation for a role that required McConaughey to become "a renaissance man"--good at everything and at home in any country--the actor hiked through Africa on his own for a month before beginning Navy SEAL training in Morocco with his costar Steve Zahn.

(read the rest at the link)

One way to be a "Renaissance" man/woman is to go camping and learn how to take care of yourself and others. I only went camping once when I was a kid and so only learned the basic stuff. But after seeing Michael Eisner on the Charlie Rose show talking about his book, "Camping" and how he learned a lot by camping and later camp counselor over a fifteen year span from age 8 to 22. I was impressed at what Michael learned and took away from his experiences of camping. Now he helps urban children learn these skills by taking them to Camp Kewadin in Vermont.

I don't know about that, I can camp with the best of them, I love it and we camp primitive as you can get. I knew my 3 year girl had it down once she told me she had to go and could she could just squat. We camp as much as possible and even Rob knows we would have camped, and had planned to, in Canada the whole time had our truck not been stolen. Not having our truck meant we couldn't transport our gear to New Orleans with us which is where we flew out of. I don't consider myself a Renaissance" man/woman because I camp, I feel lucky that I can escape the technology world for a weekend and have a great time.

With my son being a Boy Scout we are doing a lot of camping. Camping really has nothing to do with becoming a Rennisance Man. In that aspect you either are or are not. I have a friend that can build a house, play 5 different instuments and can cook up a storm. He's athletic, artistic and creative. To me he's a true Rennisance Man. No way camping did that for him. As a way of getting in touch with nature, camping does wonders.

Besides, does anyone really believe McConaughey spent a month by himself hiking through Africa?

McConaughey is pretty eccentric so it doesn't surprise me if he did. As far a being a Rennisance Man I don't know.

Camping is an experience that should make one aware of the natural beauty of our world whether one becomes a truly "Renaissance" person or not. In this day and age to be Renaissance is to be well rounded, by being of sound body and mind. Learning is truly the purpose of life. w:

Wow Tony...that was deep! :o :P

I'm pretty sure this actually happened. Can't completely verify, but I've heard him talk about it a couple of times and it seems right up his alley. He has definitely said that while filming he would sneak off for a couple of nights with the locals to get embedded into their culture as much as possible. So it may not have been a month straight, and he wasn't always alone, but he probably did it.