This was published 4 years ago
'Awkward things happen': Matthew McConaughey on cinematic sex scenes
By Benjamin Law
Each week, Benjamin Law asks public figures to discuss the subjects we're told to keep private by getting them to roll a die. The numbers they land on are the topics they're given. This week, he talks to Matthew McConaughey. The Academy Award-winning actor, 50, is best known for his roles in the films Dallas Buyers Club and Interstellar, and the HBO series True Detective. He has just released his memoir, Greenlights.
Matthew McConaughey: "If I had full knowledge right now that you get this life and that’s it, I don’t think I’d change any of my pursuits."Credit: Getty Images
SEX
What’s it like being a sex symbol? [Cackles] When People magazine deemed me “Sexiest Man Alive” [in 2005], it became a running joke. I’m friends with some of the men who made “Sexiest Man Alive” afterwards, who said, “You’re no longer sexiest man alive.” But I’d say, “I’m still alive, man!” [Laughs] Look, it’s a fun compliment.
I imagine fandom can manifest in odd ways. What’s the most intense experience you’ve had when it comes to a fan’s obsession with you? Well, I’ve had some very entitled propositions that I’ve had to manage.
“Entitled propositions” is an interesting phrase. What do you mean by it? Propositions that disregard that I was in a relationship. Or maybe the person I was in a relationship with was right there. Or that [the proposer’s] in a relationship, and the person they’re in a relationship with is right there, too. It’s a bit like, “Excuse me?”
When you’re one of the most recognisable people in the world, how do you know when someone is genuinely interested in you, and not in the aura of fame? It’s the things in between the lines. Are they actually listening? Have they only zeroed in on me, but yet – 20 minutes before they approached me – they were really good friends with the person they’re with? Are they now ignoring that person? That puts up a red light to me.
You’ve been acting for quite some time now. When it comes to sex scenes, are they still awkward? Oh, they are awkward! Early on, you just have to look at the person you’re doing the scene with and go, “All right, let’s really laugh our butts off and admit this is awkward. And let’s be glad we’re not playing people who are shooting or killing people right now.” Because awkward things happen, man. I mean, you’re in a little skin-coloured thing that’s barely covering what you’ve got. It moves and it slides. [Laughs] So you try to navigate through it, then, usually at the end, you laugh your ass off.
Is there anything you wish you’d been told about sex growing up? [Whistles] Maybe that
it doesn’t have to be super-duper serious. You can laugh together, especially if it doesn’t go as perfectly as you both had it drawn up in your minds. It’s okay to have a giggle.
BODIES
You’ve put your body on the line for your roles. To play Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club, you lost 21 kilos. What kind of effect does that have? A lot of the fat that gives us natural insulation on our joints is gone. But the upside of it was it gave me more power in my mind. I had an incredible amount of energy. I needed three hours less sleep a night. My memory was almost clinically sharp.
You’ve hit your 50s. What are you enjoying and resenting about the ageing process?
It seems to me that the body is about 10 years older than the mind believes it is. [Laughs] I’m not enjoying how much longer it seems to take me to get over an injury. I tore my meniscus 11½ months ago, and it’s still only 90 per cent back.
Geez, how did you do that? Wrestling match. Rehabilitation takes a little bit longer now. But I’m also looking forward to trying to grow old gracefully, or as gracefully as possible. Part of that is accepting, “Well, this is just where the body is going.” I’ve got more lines. A lot of those are from smiling. Well, good. That’s like a good tattoo. I’ve earned those smile lines.
What’s your secret party trick?
No tricks. [Grins] But I’ve out-danced a lot of people on the dance floor.
DEATH
You lost your father in 1992, several days into shooting Dazed and Confused. You were in your 20s. What’s been his legacy on your life? The values he taught me. The title of my book is Greenlights; my dad’s passing was a big red light. But his moving on made me go, “You don’t have that safety net of your father any more. You don’t have that person to catch your back, no matter what. So, Matthew, you’d better look the world in the eye. Stand up straight, get your head and your heart high, and move forward with more courage.”
Are you scared of death? Not really. I actually enjoy entertaining the idea. One of the things – one of the only things – we can rely on in life, is that we’re gonna die. People go, “That’s morbid.” It’s not. It’s gonna happen. Something I talk about in the book is that when we die, someone is gonna have a eulogy for us. If life is the résumé that writes our eulogy, how do you want to be introduced when you’re gone?
How would you most like to be remembered? First off, as a good father. [McConaughey’s children with his wife Camila Alves are Levi, 12, Vida, 10, and Livingston, 7.] And somebody who has been able to feel at home in almost all the places I’ve been in the world.
You’re Christian, right? Raised Methodist; I would call myself an “optimistic mystic”.
“Optimistic mystic” – can you expand on that? I do believe in God. I also believe in inclusivity. I believe that there are many paths to the same destination and I have enjoyed finding very similar teachings through so many different religions. They’re not nearly as disparate as many of us think.
Do you believe in the afterlife? I don’t know. I hope and believe and have faith this is not the end of it. But if it is, I wouldn’t do anything different. If I had full knowledge right now that you get this life and that’s it, I don’t think I’d change any of my pursuits.
I get the sense you’ve done life well so far. I mean, what else is there? Go and live it! It’s a rodeo.
diceytopics@goodweekend.com.au
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