September 18, 2025 • 43 mins
Today on The Breakfast Club, Matthew McConaughey Talks Spirituality, Cynicism, Ditching Romcoms For Dramas, Poems, Prayers. Listen For More!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Every day up waiting, click your ass up the Breakfast
Club finish.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
For y'all done.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Yep, it's the one, the most dangerous morning show, the
Breakfast Club. Charlamagea God just hilarious. DJ Envy is not here,
but Layen l Rossa is. And you know, every now
and in here on the Breakfast Club we like to
give up and coming talent a shot.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
And today we have a man who.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Is entering this industry and trying his hand at poetry.
He goes by the name of Matthew. Is that that mconnaugh.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Mcconagie, Mcconagieye rhymes with what would Madonna's how are you man?
I'm good man, good morning.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
He's got a new book out, Poems in Prayers available now.
Most folks know you for movies, they know you for speeches.
I don't know if they necessarily know you for poetry.
What made you want to put your thoughts in the
Poems in Prayers instead of another book?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Yeah, So, out the last few years, I started finding
myself getting a little bit cynical. I mean, doubt was
creeping in on me on my own faith, belief and myself.
And you know, mankind. I'm looking at the new I'm
looking at leadership, and I'm going like, huh, all right,
it seems that jackpot goes to the winner, no matter
(01:08):
if they lie cheating still to get it. Seems a
lot of us are kicking the game when it feels going,
someone's moving the gold posts, and you know, are we
ready to say, okay, that's how it is? And I
think this doubt crept in on me. I started to say, well,
maybe that's just how it is. That scared me, and
(01:28):
then thankfully it then pissed me off, and I said, no, no, no, no, no,
I'm not ready to wave the white flag here and
concede and say that's the way things are going. So
since I wasn't finding belief in reality and evidence, I said,
you know what, I'm going to go to dreams and ideals, poems,
prayers and say, you know, let's not forget that beginner's
(01:49):
my McConaughey, and let's grab a hold of those ideals
and try to make those a reality. And because you know,
that's cynicism, I'd always swore to myself, you know, you born,
you're innocent, then you're naive, then you're skeptical because you
learn some things and you're discerning and make some decisions.
The next step, though, seems to be when we go
over the cliff to being cynical, doubting people, not giving
(02:12):
the benefit of the doubt. You start doing that enough,
you know what happens. You look in the mirror, you
do the same damn thing with yourself, and so it's
an early early death. And so that's what I found
myself getting. So I went to poems to prayers.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
You said something earlier, you said, you know, people think
that they're getting the jackpot here, right, But you got
a poem in the book called the Other Day, I wrote,
wrote God a letter, And I feel like that's what
you have to do. You have to return back the
source because the jackpot probably isn't here, but we consider
that jackpot it's a mortal one exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
It's a it's a yeah, it's a it's a talisman,
or it's it's it's it's something that we that we
bow down to, and we're sold it every day as
being the chalice. Which I think we got to think longer, further,
project further, believe in God or not. I think we
got to do that, you know, because I'm talking about belief.
For me, I'm working on my belief in God. But
(02:59):
I think if anybody believes in their better self, their kids,
or if you don't know what to believe in, I'll
like say, ask yourself, who are what you die for?
Start there. It's a good spot, probably what you would
be living more for, you know, double down on that bet.
And but you know, as a believer myself in God,
(03:21):
I've got a hunch and I'm playing for a you know,
trying to cross an immortal, immortal finish line more than
just the ones that are you can win right here?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
You know, is this book passion project for you? Because
you actually have a movie coming out on Friday, but
you're instead promoting a book. Was this passion project?
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah? I mean, look like I said, I wrote it
because the you know, I was tired of looking at
the evidence and and and I didn't feel like writing
another book like green Lights, but this would be a
sister of green Lights. Yeah, I wrote it. It came
out all of a sudden. It was at the same time,
Hey that's gonna come out. You got a movie coming
out Lost Bus the same time. Don't we parlay that
(04:00):
situation hit the road, talk about poems and prayers, do
some shows, which I did my first show last night
in Brooklyn, and at the same time talk about the
lost bus. If you snap after you did your phone,
I don't think I had any snaps.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
You finished?
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Were?
Speaker 5 (04:18):
They just quiet?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
They stood and applauded. It was It was cool. It
was the first show to get it on its feet.
And h you have doing a little little tour with this.
And we did Brooklyn last night. And I go out
and I get like an opening twenty five minute sermon
set on the table. Then I'm by a musical guest
out and they're playing scores underneath about twelve of the
poems last night, John Mind, Jovie came out, going to
(04:41):
Nashville today and Lucas Nelson. I don't like that little
light flex you did. That's just nothing right.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, yeah, Joy came out right.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
We jammed going to Nashville tonight, Lucas Nelson, a friend
of Mine's coming out, go to Tulsa from there, Zach
Bryan's coming out, go to La John Mayer's coming out,
and then I returned to Austin and uh from my
hometown and John Batiste up and comers. Yeah yeah, And
(05:15):
all I said was can I get a couple of
chords under the reads kind of underscore and I will
see how they go. But last night John My Joey
did a hell a lot more than put a couple
of chords down. He wrote some songs. Wow. Yeah, it
was neat.
Speaker 6 (05:27):
I read somewhere to tell me this is true at
one point in time. Because you're big on God now
and your faith. You talk a lot about it, but
you didn't believe in I.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
Got it one.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I've had my years of not believing. I've had a
couple of them that went on for probably two years
where I was like, no, self reliance is it. I'm
responsible for me. I'm not relying on any more fate,
forgiveness and all that ship I've got to I've got.
It's about me. I gotta be self reliant. And I
(05:56):
look back, I'm glad I did it, and I and
I and they were very healthy for me. And when
I came back to God, I heard God applaud and going,
thank you for having your hands on the wheel, thank
you for having the courage to go. It is on you,
because I got too many people relying on fate alone,
and it is a combination. And I don't think that,
you know, we self, reliance and faith usually are talk out.
(06:17):
We can't. They butt heads and I don't my hunches.
They don't that it's both. You know, it's free will
and it's fate. And while you know we do something,
is it already written divinely? Maybe? But do we have
something to do with it? And do we need to
have our hands on the wheel with the choices we make?
And they are up to us? I believe so as well.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
So did you have faith and you lost it and
got it back or you never had it and.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Then no had it strong? But then also you know
questioning that you know, you grow up, you know, it
becomes sometimes it's a ritual. You know, there's many sermons
from my preacher on Sunday that I don't wasn't listen
to what he said. But the ritual of getting up
on Sunday morning, going to church, you know, being reminded
and being humbled that you're at most number two today
(07:03):
and then prayers before meals that ritual. You know, you
get older, you start to question, well, okay, what does
that mean? And I want it to be more than
just ingrained in me, like like getting married. I didn't
want to ask Camilla to get married because it's that
thing to do. I want to wait until I felt like, Okay,
now that's a covenant I want to I want to
make with God and Camilla and we want to go forward,
(07:24):
and I want to take that adventure forward. So the
same thing with faith. I've questioned it along the way.
And I love philosophy and I love science, you know
what I mean. And I'm not sure with the Bible
what to do with the burn and bush, But there's
a whole lot of ethics and ways to live and
approach life and signpost in it that whether you're agnostic,
(07:45):
whether you believe or not, there's a lot of great
things to find in that book, as well as the
Koran and many other books. So I've questioned my faith
along the way.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
In the existence of God, well brought you back with
it like a mel Gibsons and signs moment less.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Sure. Okay, One time was was quite literal. It was
the lightning bolt in the middle of a blue sky
summer that I'm like, what cloud did that come from?
Where it shook my floor? Where Mother Nature, God or
whatever reminded me. Okay, just letting you know. Glad you
glad you think it's all on you. I'm reminding you
(08:19):
that use a little speck right now. You know it
was actual lightning bolt. Actual. Yeah. I was out out
in the middle of the desert. I had I had
a micro climate cloud come over this little cabin. I
was in the desert. This was on Mother's Day. It
was eighty two degrees at noon and at two pm
(08:42):
this cloud came over. It rained, it held, it snowed
on me. In a one hundred yard circumference around the cabin.
I was at white snow two inches deep in lightning bolts.
What you found Mother's Day?
Speaker 5 (08:56):
Like you were awaiting you felt snow like this happened.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
This is real? No, And I was completely sober. I'm
not saying no, no, no, no, no no. I was
having my first cup of coffee watching this go down,
and uh. I then looked up and as I said,
walk to the edge. It was only around the cabin
I was at. I went into town. Nobody was like
snowed brough was it? No? We did could snowed? You
(09:21):
talk about it? And I taken pictures and like when's
that from It was like that's today, and it was
like this is impossible. That couldn't have happened. I was like,
it happened on top of me. And that was right
at the time I went out and again the lightning
bolt at the time when I'm saying I don't believe
bam wow, And I went, oh, excuse me, maybe I
need to Oh, I'm here. I hear you, I hear you,
you know, And he was saying, just checking in on you,
(09:43):
big boy. Thought you you got it going. I appreciate it.
Don't get too big for your brushes. So that I've
had it that way, I've had it other times. We're
just look, I mean you haven't you have your first child, wife,
you're his first child. You want to talk about believe
(10:06):
the birth? Yeah, and sit there. I'm going to hear
in a whale cry or hearing your dog on kids
in the other room laughing together. You see God and
your woman, you see God and your wife like that? Right?
What the how did you do talk about miracles? How
did you do that? How did that? How do you
have that ability? And then you know there's all that people.
(10:28):
I don't know if there's a better word for it.
There's enough coincidences that happened where you're like, you know what, man,
it was a mystery going forward, but now looking back,
there's a science that adds up that I did not
have anything to do with that choice that happened, and
I got the I got grace enough times where I'm like, Okay,
(10:49):
I got nothing to do with that, Matt. That wasn't
my choice. And some things lined up and in ways
that were more than just coincidence to me. And I've
had times where I've taken trips, you know when and
off of my own twenty five days of my own,
and around day fourteen had certain revelations where you know,
when that truth hits you at four am solitude, it
hits you soft as a butterfly, but with a lightning
(11:12):
bolt as well, and you reminded, been reminded of some things.
You know, remember that truth, even when you go back
into the masses in the busy world, do not let
go of that truth, you know. So, yeah, that's what
inspired truth Sleeve. Yeah, she'll come and visit, you know
what I mean, if you if you want more than
just to playing with her, she'll be She'll stay in
(11:34):
your bed all night every day. You know what I mean.
It's talking about truth, y'all? Not okay? Yes, yeah, yeah yeah.
And she'll be there with you forever and then hang
out with you your conscience and everything else, and she'll
be a great friend. But she's tough. She's tough to
live with because you call you on your shit. Yes, right,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
We got to be willing to look truth in the
eyes and deal with that. Like, you know, it's one
thing I was I was happy I said this yesterday.
It's like, you know, integrity to me is being honest
with your self. Yeah, honesty and truth is when you
with other people, but actually having integrity is when you
can be honest with yourself.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
That's hard for some folks. Yeah, it's been hard for
me in my life sometimes. I mean, you know, I
talk about how how I pray in here. I go
through a rolodex in my mind and you know, people
I love and care about, and I until I find
a shot an image of them when they're most themselves,
you know, not the happiest or saddest or emotionally, just
when they're kind of graceful going in and they're like shining.
(12:28):
I go through that and the last person I get
to before I in my prayers, I got to go
through rolodex myself when I'm that way, and that can
take a mighty long time to find that image. And
I've had many times where I'm looking in the mirror
and I'm seeing another you know, and I got to
sit there and hold my gaze until i can call
myself on my on my bullshit, you know, and put
the put the facade down. And that can take a
(12:50):
while to find that for me. But then I'm also
happy to say I've had many days where I can
look myself in the I goo, yes.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Sir, speaking of that. How vulnerable? How vulnerable did you
have to be? And I don't write this book but
to share share it.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah, vulnerable is a funny word. I hadn't worked out
my relationship with definition of vulnerability. Yet. It doesn't feel
I've been told that though I hear what you're saying,
because we would say the same question, and I'm going,
I don't know, is it really I don't feel what's
so vulnerable about it? Because I believe it, So don't
feel like I'm I'm exposing anything myself. If anything. I've
(13:26):
had people go, Wow, that's that's ballsy of you to
talk go talk about belief and grace and forgiveness in
God and in the way you're doing it. I've heard that,
but I don't. I don't. I don't feel like I'm
being brave. I don't feel like I'm being like, oh
my gosh, I really exposed myself. I mean, I think
I'm talking a language that's that I know it's true
(13:48):
to me, and I'm hearing that it's true for others
as well. Now you'll know, man, Hollywood doesn't isn't the
first one to talk about belief in religion or in God,
you know what I mean. But I've had wonderful times
with out there with with with people that are believers
that may not want to admit it publicly prayed with
(14:09):
a bunch of them. I've got a lot of agnostic
friends who do not believe, but we sit there and say,
say are graces and thank you? So, I mean, I
don't know someone's asked me that, or aren't you kind
of afraid to do this since you're Hollywood to go
talk about God? I mean in that kind of a tabot, No,
I mean it never was before for me, and I'm
sure as hecking now. So I'm on my own spiritual
(14:32):
journey trying to is that this book right, this book
is therapy for me. I'm in the middle of it,
going out last night and putting it on its feet
and showing sharing with people and engaging back and forth.
I'm I'm finding more connection with myself as well. I'm
sure you know, because I gotta strengthen my own belief
I want to.
Speaker 6 (14:47):
Are you delivering people like your friends that you're talking
about that are in Hollywood, that you might not have
strong belief or whatever. Do you find yourself kind of
bringing them to what you believe?
Speaker 1 (14:56):
No, No, I'm not. I'm never I'm not. That's not
where I'm putting my sweat equity into conversion. I want
to sit there and go. I do think there's a
lot of people that say, oh, I'm just spiritual, and
I think that's halfway that I'm like, actually, I'm listening
(15:16):
what you're talking about. You're very religious. Actually the religion
I love going back to the root definitions of words.
Religion comes from the Latin root legare, which means to
bind together and re means again, so that's unity. Now,
I hear a lot of people talk about the unity
is what I'm for. I'm not religious, but I'm for unity.
(15:37):
I'm spiritual. I'm like, well, that's actually that's definition of religion.
So what I think, what I try to talk to
people about and remind him, is that I don't think
religion is a problem. It's what man did with it
along the way, and where it excluded so many, and
where it became a business, and where the snake salesman
came out. And have you got reason to be skeptical
(16:00):
people preaching some stuff and what they're selling. But don't
throw religion out. Religion, I think it's all I think
life's religious. It's all religious I do. But don't throw religion.
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Throw religion
out just because mankind bastardized it along the way.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Because I believe in being spiritual more than religious. I
feel like people can get caught up in religion and
they just do all the practices or even get caught
up and going to a place of worship every week,
but you're really not tapped into the spirit. You're just
doing things that you feel like you should do. Because
that's what the religion calls for.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
But don't you think the ritual, the like mantras. You know,
monks they repeat the same thing six times a day
in these psalms, they get to they get ingrained. Don't
you think the ritual of that if it brings you
back the spirit?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Right, If you're just saying, like I'm going to church
on Sunday just because just to make yourself feel better,
it's like going to the gym and not really working out.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah, well, look, I mean sometimes it's
it's the effort of just going I don't have the connection,
but I'm trying. And I think it was a great
Benedictine monk Thomas Merton that said, God, I believe that
(17:13):
trying to please you pleased you, and that sometimes I
gotta go to myself is a little amnesty to go, hey, man,
you're trying me going through the doubts that I've got
to look at that instead of going, oh what the
hell McConaughey going no, it's part of the process. Man,
keep trying. Man, you know we're gonna you know, you don't,
I don't know, I'm not I'm not. Maybe I got
(17:35):
to I do. Maybe I got a lot further to go.
I mean, if you're gonna have full faith, seems if
you're gonna have full faith, that you gotta have full surrender.
I ain't doing that, not yet. I got some more
humility to learn on that way, if that's where I
can go, But I'm not there yet to fully surrender?
Is Hollywood keeping you from doing that? Because you know
(17:57):
when people sighed eye you, and you haven't feel.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Any push back by having, like, you know, putting well
first of all, putting out something so spiritually.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Just I don't. I don't if it's there. Look, I
don't know. Maybe I've been out there thirty five years
and I've got I understood. The community knows me. I
know them if I do. They may be saying it
behind the back, but they understand it to me, and
they're usually much They're much more open, I think than
they've been stereotyped to be. I don't there's not a
(18:26):
pushback now. Like I said, a lot of people may
not go out and say I'm a belite, but they
might want to keep that to themselves. But they're not saying, dude,
what are you doing? It's not like I'm going, well,
we're not going to you know, let's not hire McConaughey
because let's not hang out with him because because also
but I mean, i think they're very, very clear, and
(18:47):
I think I've been clear with who I am. I'm not.
I'm not sitting there so excluding those people from the
table if they do not believe I'm not, that's not
that's not my way, you know. So I've never said
to them, well, pray for this, but we can't have
dinner together. It's not what I'm saying, have no means
(19:11):
to say that, nor do I want to. I'm saying,
come on to the table. And like I said, if
you're not a believer in God, find so. If you
believe in sign and go. If you're not a tyrant
or nihilist, you're not trying to harm people. Whatever it
is you believe in. Double down on more of that science, philosophy,
whatever it is.
Speaker 6 (19:30):
What a like you talked about earlier, reflection and looking
in the mirror and doing I guess doing that all
writ in this book. What's been like the hardest time
that you had to face yourself?
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Hardest time on I had to face myself, Well, before
the first one that comes to mind probably be fifteen
years ago. I was doing rom comms and I was
a go to guy in rom comms and enjoyed them.
But I'd in my real life, I'd met Camilla, fall
(20:05):
in love with her. She was now pregnant with her
first child. And if you got kids, you know, that's
a real vital time life, you know. And as a man,
I don't think there's any time a man is more
maschland than with the birth of a first child, or
the heart, head, body and lays are more aligned then
(20:27):
than ever. So my life was very vital. My work
felt like I could get up and go do that
tomorrow morning. It's nothing wrong with that, but I was
looking for my work to challenge boy, could that be
is maybe as exciting as and as vital as my
life is. And mind you, I did look in the
mirror and say, be damn Glad McConaughey, that you feel
like your life is more vital than your work, not
(20:49):
the other way around. But can we get find some
work that can be as vital as my life? So
I wanted to do dramas. That's where the work I
wanted to do. Hollywood says no, sir, stay in your lane,
so I'll take pay cut. They said, I don't care,
stay in your lane. So I said, all right, I
can't do what I want to do. I'm gonna stop
doing what I've been doing. So went to Texas with Camilla.
(21:10):
She's pregnant, we said, stepping out, told my agent no
more rom Comma Da Da Da da. I said, okay.
And I remember Camilla and I saying that this. You
don't know how long you're gonna go without work. This
could be a drive spell for a while. You don't
win the money yet. Man, I might have just wrote
myself one way money right, all right, I hear you,
(21:33):
and I'm going I hear you. Plus I got accomplished
stuff for my own significance, and now what am I
gonna do? I ain't gonna go down, and you know,
start making chimes for a living, you know. So I'm
I'm I'm out of them, out of rom comms. I'm
I'm not on the beach anymore shirtless, which kind of
looked like I was in a rom common in real
life as well. Right, and uh, I got nothing coming
(21:53):
in my agent's like, man, I hadn't heard your name
in five months, et cetera, et cetera. Damn Yeah. So
now we get into twelve months where year no work.
I'm starting to think maybe I did write myself one
way ticket out of Hollywood. Maybe I need to look
for another vocation. Maybe I'm gonna go back to law school,
become a lawyer. Maybe I've become a teacher. Eighteen months
go by. Check this out, and I think you'll you'll
know exause what I'm talking about when I say this,
(22:15):
This uh rom com action coming to the script comes
in eight million dollar offer. I read it. I said, no,
thank you. They come back. Ten million dollar off. I said, no,
thank you, they come back, twelve million dollar offer. I said,
no thank you, they come back fourteen point five million
dollar offer. I said, let me read that thing again.
(22:39):
So I opened it up the same script as a
million mal offer, but it was better. I can see
myself making this work. Did you was turning it down?
She knew everything, she knew, She thought, now, My brothers
thought I was buck. Brothers were like, what is your
major malfunctional? But I had made the decision, and come on,
I made the decision. There wasn't It was no negogtial
(22:59):
wasn't going back anyway. I read it again, it was better,
but I ultimately he said no thing. And I think
that sent a signal after eighteen months of being out
of Hollywood. Oh old McConaughey bluffing, you know what I mean.
I don't know what he's doing, but he's playing offense.
He's he's turned down fourteen to five. That's not a
(23:19):
receding move to do that. He's up to something. So
you parlay that declining fourteen to five along with eighteen months,
which turns to twenty months out of Hollywood, out of
rom coms, not in the theater, not in your living room.
All of a sudden, well, you know who'd be a novel,
kind of interesting, new good idea for this drama? Killer
(23:42):
Joe or Mud or Lincoln Lawyer now aspires club true
de TEXTI McConaughey. Wow, But only because I unbranded, because
I was gone. I had to go get anonymous, you
know what I mean? Yeah?
Speaker 6 (23:57):
What type of prayers were you seeing during that time?
Because that's all right, the money you know.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
I needed to I trust me that that The old
bottle on the shelf started looking better earlier and earlier
in the day too, you know, I was I lost
my work. Man's got to work for significance and I
didn't have it. You got depressed. No, I didn't get depressed.
I didn't get depressed because thankfully I got a newborn
and the only thing I ever wanted to be, no,
(24:22):
I've ever wanted to be in life is is father.
So anytime I focused on our son, Levi as a
newborn and a new life brought in, that really kept
my compass grounded. It was long days, you know, without
cheapness of my own stuff, but I had that as
an anchor.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
And that's that's such an incredible story because I you know,
when I think about you going from rom com to
an Oscar winning dramatic actor, I always wondered, what was
the pivot or how did you know it was time
to pivot? And just to know it was just an
intentional decision to want to be taken serious. Was That's
That's powerful.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
That was it. And I had to step out, and
it was it was twenty months total that I was out.
And trust me, like I said, I did think that
I just I think I wrote myself a one way
to take it out of Hollywood. What did that teach you
about the power of intention.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
That.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
There's certain decisions like that decision to do that that
came that hit me at four am. You know that
the fact that I wasn't feeling alive in my work,
the fact that it was paling in comparison to how
wonderfully dramatic my life was, that was clear to me
(25:36):
that that's what I needed to make a change, and
I it was a non negotiable. So once again, once
those truths hit, as we talked about earlier, and you go,
I know that's true for me in my soul, but
now I'm going to re engage with the masses, and
slowly that onion can get peeled and you start to go, well,
I can't maybe I could, You know I didn't. It's
(25:57):
very clear. It was like, no, this is I'm not
going back on the idea that if nothing would have
come at twenty months, I was not going to go
back and do what I'd done. I'd be doing something
different if nothing had comes since then, I would be
doing something different in my life right now. I was
not going to go back. So the idea that of
not flinching once you made a decision, and you can
out endure a situation, and you can also seem to
(26:19):
find after a while, like fifteen months of nothing from
going out of my mind, all of a sudden kind
of start to get a little honor in charge and
filled up with like the endurance of it. It's almost like, Okay,
the longer this goes, I got to hunt the reward
on the other sides getting bigger with every day I'm
(26:40):
going through this penance drought. I got a feeling that
that there's a bigger reward over there. I'm in this
for the long game. And you know, thankfully said it
all came back around. I didn't have anything to do
that besides being out of Hollywood, but the offers came
in for the work I wanted to do. But making
a decision, being clear on it and then saying as
(27:01):
I I know this and projecting ahead. It's like COVID.
I think, hey, we did my family did pretty good
in COVID. And one of the things I think was
when it came we sat down, I told the cause
playing on this being this way for ten years, what
damn so think it's going to be longer? And then
when it is over in four years, You're like, oh shit,
(27:21):
I was rolling. I could have handled more. Yeah. Right,
So I was thinking it could be worse than it
was going to be. I was thinking that I may
be in a drought and not get any offers for
five years, and hell, I'm gonna have to find something
else do. Well, luckily it comes in two years in
WHEREK came. You know that's a psalm forty six ten.
Be still and know that I am God. You just
(27:42):
got to be still and hold it and hold it.
Sometimes you change by staying the same, and the world
does this and it comes right back to the baseline
that you're on going. Oh you're brand new, and you're like, no,
I've been right here. I just held you know what
I mean. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
So when you transitioned into drama, Matthew McConaughey, have any
did any of your roles alter your perception of reality?
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Did any of my roles alter my perception of reality? Well,
I will say this, I kind of flipped the script.
Remember earlier I was saying my life was so vital
and my work was paling. The work got so vital
that all of a sudden, I was like I had
a little moment you know, I was like, Oh, my
(28:30):
life's not as vital as my work. Ooh fiction. Playing
these other characters that are written, I'm kind of getting
off to them more than I'm getting off being me
in the documentary That is My Life. That scared me
a little bit too, which is why I started writing.
And then while I wrote Greenlight to when I'm writing
(28:51):
Points Press, I tried been challenging myself for the last
six years, going all right, you know, you go out,
You're doing someone else's script, written by somebody else, directed
by someone else, lends in a camera by someone else,
and edited by someone else. That's for filters from your
raw expression. So I was like, let's get rid of
some filters here. And who are you in life McConaughey,
(29:14):
in this documentary where action has been called the day
you were born and cuts gona be called the day
you leave this life? What are you doing live in
this live show where hands of time or recording it?
And That's what I've been the last six years, kind
of challenging myself. So I go to a book. Now
if there is one filter with the book, because it's
a written word the performance, right, there's no filter. That's
(29:34):
direct to the audience. So it was one filter. But
I wanted to see if the written word and I
could tell some personal stories that could be entertaining that
people could see themselves in and go and then go
look in there and go, you did that good job, McConaughey,
or you know, here's where you could have made it
even more true or better. And I wanted to need that.
(29:55):
And so that's sort of a phase I'm in now
where I'm still doing work. What made lost bus made
another one called the Ribbers of M'SI and I tell
you I went back to you know, it spent six
years since it acting in a role. I one forgot
how much I enjoyed it, and two forgot how much
it feels like a vacation because it's a singular focus.
And I've been compartmentalizing more of the last six years,
(30:17):
taking on more different things, checking out leadership roles, writing books, family,
et cetera. But the singular focus of going to act
and going I'm obsessed and all I revered this craft
enough to be obsessed with my man, this character. In
every idle moment I've got, I've got work I can
do to tell more of the truth on this character,
(30:38):
and I give myself three months to do that. That
sort of blinders. Yeah, And I think for my wife
that when I go out the door every morning, she
got the kids and says, don't look over your shoulder,
go conquer. I got this shit handled, big, big help.
But I'm able to just singular focused when I go
act and I missed. It felt like a vacation. Why
didn't the Yellowstone spend off happen? So we talked about it,
(30:59):
Taylor and I. It just never it never came to
I never saw a script I wanted to see, you
know what. The the idea was good, it just never
got the script form. So Taylor and I continue to
talk about what might be the best way to work together.
So you were you were attached to it like it
was actually happen. Well, I mean I was. It came out.
I'm always curious about this because it came out my attachment,
(31:22):
which I wouldn't never signed anything. There wasn't any real attachment.
It just Taylor and I creedively talking about it could
be a good idea, right. But it was interesting because
it came out in the news in the trades about
the same time Coster's leaving, so I don't know if
it was publicly put out there to sort of counterbalance.
We got the exit of our guy Gostler, who we've
(31:43):
all known, so let's make sure it looks like we've
got somebody else coming in that we can be excited about.
So there was never a contract or anything. It was
just he and I. He and I talking about it,
and what about this Barbie sequel? You really gonna be
in the Barbie? Said O, Man, I don't know. Someone
came up with that. No, someone just I think American Frere,
just like who's in Lost Bus with me? I think
(32:06):
she mentioned it on some talk show going you could
be the King of Kens and he kins, I can
put a font to that. Hey, let's put a picture
up all of a sudden, I some of the show,
he said yesterday, I'm on some show and I'm there
in a white suit at Kings. That's just as real
as that is. Would you do it? I don't know.
It sounds like it could be fun.
Speaker 5 (32:22):
You know, it'd be good for the kids.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 6 (32:26):
And then with the Lost Bus, I saw that you
when your son because he's in a movie with you. Yeah,
Leb yeah, Levi, you asked for his last name to
be taken off when you submitted his casting video.
Speaker 5 (32:35):
Yeah, what was the dad decision to do that?
Speaker 6 (32:37):
Like?
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah, so I pitched every you know story of the
script that a movie I'm going to do the family
and this one has a son, and my son comes
to me and goes, hey, your son cash? Yeah, I
said no. He goes, how old is it kidding the
script about your age? Say, it's kind of can I
read for it? And I'm like, huh, kind of ignored him.
I wanted to. I want to see some hustles. He
(32:59):
He's not just coming at me like this is a
whim right. Well, he kept badgering me and kept badgering me,
and finally go okay, all right, so first of all,
let's sit down. Let me talk you about this acting gig.
This ain't you don't show up with attitude. There ain't
no modeling gig. This is a rodeo man. You gotta
go with soul and nobleshit in your bones. All right,
So just set the table of this is a serious craft.
(33:19):
And then we talked him for a couple of days
and then he said I've got to see and I'd
love to shoot. I pulled up my phone shot him
and I was like, Okay, he holds a camera, all right,
he can behave honestly in front of the camera. He
can even improvise. Did well? I send that to the
cash and director? I said, I think this might be
good enough for a callback. She writes back, I think
it might be good enough to send to the director. Okay, great.
(33:41):
Can you do me a favor and pull his last name?
Because you know, forgetting nepotism? Just what if he got
the job with my last name? You're at a bar,
right or he's got it thinking in his mind? Did
part of the reason I got that? Because come on,
(34:02):
that ain't a good friend. That's why we didn't name
it Matthew, so it would be Matthew Jr. You know
what I mean? Although Levi is another name for Matthew.
We got away with that, Yeah, saying Matthew jeans post alone.
Get on that way? You got your prayers in print, right? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (34:22):
How often do your prayers going going answers? And do
you still trust God in those seasons that they do?
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Where is there any such thing as an unanswered prayer?
Meaning if you don't get what you're praying for, and
now that it's still an answer. Sometimes you know, Mighty
gave you what you need, not what you wanted. What
you need what you want right, that's and and and
and you know, it's funny sometimes when I hear people
(34:55):
praying for it because you've got blue collar prayers and
you've got white collar prayers. You hear someone praying death.
You know, win that oscar, get that yacht. You're going, Man,
I hang on, but I ain't. Guys got better stuff
to do. Man, you talk about as white collar prayers
that ain't ain't working. We got to talk about what
do you need now? What you want now? I do
(35:17):
think my definition of heaven on earth is where what
you want is what you need, and what you need
is what you want, Where what you actually need is
what you desire, or what you desire, what you're salacious for,
what you lust for is actually what you need is
actually worth loving, hard place to get to. But boy,
when that's when in the pocket, I think that's when
(35:39):
we're in the honey hole right there. You know, some
people say, what could you still be praying for?
Speaker 3 (35:43):
Because you have the Oscar, you have the fame, you
have the money you had those.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Yeah, I never prayed for any of those either. Okay,
no way, I'd feel like I'd feel like a fraud
praying for that again, I think that would be a
white collared prayer. Where God's going on. I got, I got,
I got real stuff to try and handle, you know
what I mean. I pray for the health of my family.
I pray for myself to be the type of father
(36:08):
that can maintain a healthy family unit. I pray for
UH to have the patience to sometimes be a what
I would call better husband. I pray for the discernment
to listen and try to make the choices that can
feed me and my family and life going forward, to
(36:29):
make decisions that will pay me back for the long term,
for the long haul, and for the decisions that can
those decisions that can pay me back also, where are
those also the ones that can pay the most people back.
That's the kind of things I pray for, you know.
And then I mom's ninety three, man, you know, he's awesome,
(36:51):
and she's rolling and from the neck up, she's younger
than that. We'll see how long the body holds up.
But I pray for and I, you know, I don't
even know. She feels like I need to pray for her.
She's she's she's great. She's good. Man. When she's ready
to go, she goes tomorrow. She's good. You know what
I mean. She's nothing sentlemental about it her. She can
talk about death like right here in front of you,
like you're talking about drink of water.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
Older people, Margaret, mother's the same way they get.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
They live like they it's like your revolutionary when you're young, right,
and then you get your thirties and forties and you
start to go, oh, some of that stuff Mom and
dad taught me was right. So I'm gonna get a
little more responsible. And then you get about sixty and
what they slip back. They don't give a shit about it.
I mean hurting anybody. Oh, they'll get over it. And
you're like, like, my mom, the stuff she'll lie about,
I would do her. She's still lying in ninety three.
(37:37):
Oh yeah, yeah. She's like, she's like, oh yeah, you lie,
I swear to it. So she starts telling me she
she's done some crazy stuff. Man. She had this, uh
she had this boyfriend that my dad died and uh
uh he was living at the house and stuff, And
they've been dating for about a year and a half
and they lived out this country club out in southwest Houston,
(38:00):
and my brother Pats playing golf one day and these
four older gentlemen on the other fairway call them over
and go, hey, pack, congratulations. Man pass about what and
he goes about your mom c J. The marriage. He's
like what Mary, Oh yeah, yeah, we all heard about it.
So he goes home, Mom, what'd you do? We're talking about? No,
I just so you got oh that? What what'd you do? Mom? Well,
(38:28):
the monthly bills the club are four hundred if your
only partners, but there are two fifty if you're married.
Come on, dragged her down to the country club, made
her get on the mic and tell everyone I was
bullshit and I was lying out of so she do
stuff like that, right, And I'm like, yeah, you know
(38:50):
not to lie, blah blah blah blah. And I go,
do you have anything, Mom? No one forgives themselves quicker
than you do. You have anything at the night. But
when you roll the deck through your mind about things,
you may regret things you want to change it her.
She goes, oh, honey, I do every night. I got
a list. It's probably twenty five things on I got regrets,
things I change, oh, things that I just I'm sorry for,
she said. But you know the thing is, when I
(39:11):
wake up in the morning, I forgot them all. That's
her and she's not a shallow woman at all. But
boy does she move on from And she doesn't generally
judge people. That's another thing about her. She has zero stress,
zero stress. Yeah, anyway, that's my mom.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
I didn't realize they told us the wrapt five minutes ago.
So my last question, if you could go back and
talk to the version of yourself that first said all right,
all right, all right, yeah, what would you.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Tell that person? Days Confused nineteen ninety first scene I
was ever in a movie and tell you where it's from.
I'm wasn't even supposed to work that night. I'd never
acted before, I'd never been on screen. All right, So
all of a sudden, I'm in this car getting a
lava leer Mike put up. I mean the scene is
I'm gonna try to pick up this red headed intellectual
(40:03):
who's played by Marissa Robisi, and she's got nerds in
the car, and I'm Woodson, who's hanging out at school
and then I'm older, but I still like the high
school girl, So pull and pick her up. Nothing's written.
Gonna improvise this. Well. As I'm getting the mic put
on me, I'm starting to get a little nervous.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
Make sure you're acting with that line, because they'll take
that out of context and put that on the internet.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
That's Watterson and everything. Everything I'm about to say, gotta
remember us talking talking the first person from our characters.
There's plenty, plenty of times, plenty of times through the day.
You could record what I'm saying and put me in jail.
I'm going on, I'm peeking through the pills someone else. Right.
(40:41):
So Woodson was a guy who was hanging out the
high school. He was out, and that's he has the line.
There's a great line written run there like, man, you
gotta you gotta quit. You know you gotta cut that
out work, And he says, no, that's what I love
about those high school girls. Man, I get older, they
stayed the same.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Aig that was you have to have to double down.
We got it, we got a right. I raved that
line because people know that a right anyway.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
So I'm sitting there nervous about this first scene, starting
to get you know, a little anxious, and I'm like,
who's my man? Who's Wooterson? Going through my head? Who's
my guy? I got a Wooterson man loves loves it,
love my car, I said, Boom, I remember seveny chavelle.
There's one, I said Woterson. Watterson loves rock and roll,
I said, boom. I got ted NuGet stranglehold in the
eight track. There's too, I said. Waterson loves to get high.
I said, Oh, Slater's riding shot gun. He's always got
(41:26):
to do. We rolled up all of a sudden, I
hear action. Now as I hear action, I look up,
put it in drive, and as I pull out to
go do the fourth thing that Watterson lens he likes ladies. Yes,
I say the three things, and affirmation for the three
things that I do have. All right, all right, all right.
Those were three affirmations. And that actually was based off
(41:49):
of a live doors concert and Jim Morrison barks at
the crowd all right, all right, all right, all right,
And I had listened to it, heard that four months earlier,
and for whatever reason, my version of it three times
came out that night. So what would you tell that
version of yourself. Hey, you may think this is gonna
be a hobby where you gotta have a fun weekend
(42:11):
acting in Austin, Texas one summer in your life. Well
guess what, buddy, this is gonna be more than a hobby.
It's gonna be a career and you're gonna end up
loving it. Wow. Matthew McConaughey, I'm sorry, real quick.
Speaker 4 (42:26):
Did you improve your role in Oh my God, The
Leonardo the Wall Street?
Speaker 1 (42:31):
Did you?
Speaker 4 (42:32):
It was that improv all of that?
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Well, not all of it, no, but but but quite
a bit was I mean, you know people ask about
the chest beating, All right, that's something I'll do before
scenes and I've done many times before. It's a relaxation technique,
you know, get to get out of head. It's getting
the rhythm. Yeah, let's get the blood flowing. And it's
good because the whole crew is going. Was he doing what?
(42:56):
It's the weird and it's nice to put himself in
an underdog position so I can out of it, right.
And then I was doing that before the scene. Yell action,
I'd stop. We do the scene. We do the scene
five times we got it moving on. Great, nailed it
moving on. All of a sudden, Leonardo raises his hand
and says, hey, Marty, hang on a second. He goes,
what's that thing you're doing before I told him? When
(43:16):
I just told you? And he goes, what if you
did that in the scene? Next take is what you
see on on film?
Speaker 4 (43:21):
I love it, I love it.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Wow, it's Matthew McConaughey poems and prays. Good.
Speaker 3 (43:27):
Great conversation with you, brother, Poems and prais is out
right now, man, Thank you for coming, brother.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
I appreciate you, sir.
Speaker 5 (43:33):
Having and the Lost Bus is in theaters Friday.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Yeah. Yes, it's the Breakfast Club every day a week ago.
Click your ass up, the Breakfast Club. You don't finish,
So y'all have done it.
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Every day up waiting, click your ass up the Breakfast
Club finish.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
For y'all done.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Yep, it's the one, the most dangerous morning show, the
Breakfast Club. Charlamagea God just hilarious. DJ Envy is not here,
but Layen l Rossa is. And you know, every now
and in here on the Breakfast Club we like to
give up and coming talent a shot.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
And today we have a man who.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Is entering this industry and trying his hand at poetry.
He goes by the name of Matthew. Is that that mconnaugh.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Mcconagie, Mcconagieye rhymes with what would Madonna's how are you man?
I'm good man, good morning.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
He's got a new book out, Poems in Prayers available now.
Most folks know you for movies, they know you for speeches.
I don't know if they necessarily know you for poetry.
What made you want to put your thoughts in the
Poems in Prayers instead of another book?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Yeah, So, out the last few years, I started finding
myself getting a little bit cynical. I mean, doubt was
creeping in on me on my own faith, belief and myself.
And you know, mankind. I'm looking at the new I'm
looking at leadership, and I'm going like, huh, all right,
it seems that jackpot goes to the winner, no matter
(01:08):
if they lie cheating still to get it. Seems a
lot of us are kicking the game when it feels going,
someone's moving the gold posts, and you know, are we
ready to say, okay, that's how it is? And I
think this doubt crept in on me. I started to say, well,
maybe that's just how it is. That scared me, and
(01:28):
then thankfully it then pissed me off, and I said, no, no, no, no, no,
I'm not ready to wave the white flag here and
concede and say that's the way things are going. So
since I wasn't finding belief in reality and evidence, I said,
you know what, I'm going to go to dreams and ideals, poems,
prayers and say, you know, let's not forget that beginner's
(01:49):
my McConaughey, and let's grab a hold of those ideals
and try to make those a reality. And because you know,
that's cynicism, I'd always swore to myself, you know, you born,
you're innocent, then you're naive, then you're skeptical because you
learn some things and you're discerning and make some decisions.
The next step, though, seems to be when we go
over the cliff to being cynical, doubting people, not giving
(02:12):
the benefit of the doubt. You start doing that enough,
you know what happens. You look in the mirror, you
do the same damn thing with yourself, and so it's
an early early death. And so that's what I found
myself getting. So I went to poems to prayers.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
You said something earlier, you said, you know, people think
that they're getting the jackpot here, right, But you got
a poem in the book called the Other Day, I wrote,
wrote God a letter, And I feel like that's what
you have to do. You have to return back the
source because the jackpot probably isn't here, but we consider
that jackpot it's a mortal one exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
It's a it's a yeah, it's a it's a talisman,
or it's it's it's it's something that we that we
bow down to, and we're sold it every day as
being the chalice. Which I think we got to think longer, further,
project further, believe in God or not. I think we
got to do that, you know, because I'm talking about belief.
For me, I'm working on my belief in God. But
(02:59):
I think if anybody believes in their better self, their kids,
or if you don't know what to believe in, I'll
like say, ask yourself, who are what you die for?
Start there. It's a good spot, probably what you would
be living more for, you know, double down on that bet.
And but you know, as a believer myself in God,
(03:21):
I've got a hunch and I'm playing for a you know,
trying to cross an immortal, immortal finish line more than
just the ones that are you can win right here?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
You know, is this book passion project for you? Because
you actually have a movie coming out on Friday, but
you're instead promoting a book. Was this passion project?
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah? I mean, look like I said, I wrote it
because the you know, I was tired of looking at
the evidence and and and I didn't feel like writing
another book like green Lights, but this would be a
sister of green Lights. Yeah, I wrote it. It came
out all of a sudden. It was at the same time,
Hey that's gonna come out. You got a movie coming
out Lost Bus the same time. Don't we parlay that
(04:00):
situation hit the road, talk about poems and prayers, do
some shows, which I did my first show last night
in Brooklyn, and at the same time talk about the
lost bus. If you snap after you did your phone,
I don't think I had any snaps.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
You finished?
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Were?
Speaker 5 (04:18):
They just quiet?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
They stood and applauded. It was It was cool. It
was the first show to get it on its feet.
And h you have doing a little little tour with this.
And we did Brooklyn last night. And I go out
and I get like an opening twenty five minute sermon
set on the table. Then I'm by a musical guest
out and they're playing scores underneath about twelve of the
poems last night, John Mind, Jovie came out, going to
(04:41):
Nashville today and Lucas Nelson. I don't like that little
light flex you did. That's just nothing right.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, yeah, Joy came out right.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
We jammed going to Nashville tonight, Lucas Nelson, a friend
of Mine's coming out, go to Tulsa from there, Zach
Bryan's coming out, go to La John Mayer's coming out,
and then I returned to Austin and uh from my
hometown and John Batiste up and comers. Yeah yeah, And
(05:15):
all I said was can I get a couple of
chords under the reads kind of underscore and I will
see how they go. But last night John My Joey
did a hell a lot more than put a couple
of chords down. He wrote some songs. Wow. Yeah, it
was neat.
Speaker 6 (05:27):
I read somewhere to tell me this is true at
one point in time. Because you're big on God now
and your faith. You talk a lot about it, but
you didn't believe in I.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
Got it one.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I've had my years of not believing. I've had a
couple of them that went on for probably two years
where I was like, no, self reliance is it. I'm
responsible for me. I'm not relying on any more fate,
forgiveness and all that ship I've got to I've got.
It's about me. I gotta be self reliant. And I
(05:56):
look back, I'm glad I did it, and I and
I and they were very healthy for me. And when
I came back to God, I heard God applaud and going,
thank you for having your hands on the wheel, thank
you for having the courage to go. It is on you,
because I got too many people relying on fate alone,
and it is a combination. And I don't think that,
you know, we self, reliance and faith usually are talk out.
(06:17):
We can't. They butt heads and I don't my hunches.
They don't that it's both. You know, it's free will
and it's fate. And while you know we do something,
is it already written divinely? Maybe? But do we have
something to do with it? And do we need to
have our hands on the wheel with the choices we make?
And they are up to us? I believe so as well.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
So did you have faith and you lost it and
got it back or you never had it and.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Then no had it strong? But then also you know
questioning that you know, you grow up, you know, it
becomes sometimes it's a ritual. You know, there's many sermons
from my preacher on Sunday that I don't wasn't listen
to what he said. But the ritual of getting up
on Sunday morning, going to church, you know, being reminded
and being humbled that you're at most number two today
(07:03):
and then prayers before meals that ritual. You know, you
get older, you start to question, well, okay, what does
that mean? And I want it to be more than
just ingrained in me, like like getting married. I didn't
want to ask Camilla to get married because it's that
thing to do. I want to wait until I felt like, Okay,
now that's a covenant I want to I want to
make with God and Camilla and we want to go forward,
(07:24):
and I want to take that adventure forward. So the
same thing with faith. I've questioned it along the way.
And I love philosophy and I love science, you know
what I mean. And I'm not sure with the Bible
what to do with the burn and bush, But there's
a whole lot of ethics and ways to live and
approach life and signpost in it that whether you're agnostic,
(07:45):
whether you believe or not, there's a lot of great
things to find in that book, as well as the
Koran and many other books. So I've questioned my faith
along the way.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
In the existence of God, well brought you back with
it like a mel Gibsons and signs moment less.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Sure. Okay, One time was was quite literal. It was
the lightning bolt in the middle of a blue sky
summer that I'm like, what cloud did that come from?
Where it shook my floor? Where Mother Nature, God or
whatever reminded me. Okay, just letting you know. Glad you
glad you think it's all on you. I'm reminding you
(08:19):
that use a little speck right now. You know it
was actual lightning bolt. Actual. Yeah. I was out out
in the middle of the desert. I had I had
a micro climate cloud come over this little cabin. I
was in the desert. This was on Mother's Day. It
was eighty two degrees at noon and at two pm
(08:42):
this cloud came over. It rained, it held, it snowed
on me. In a one hundred yard circumference around the cabin.
I was at white snow two inches deep in lightning bolts.
What you found Mother's Day?
Speaker 5 (08:56):
Like you were awaiting you felt snow like this happened.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
This is real? No, And I was completely sober. I'm
not saying no, no, no, no, no no. I was
having my first cup of coffee watching this go down,
and uh. I then looked up and as I said,
walk to the edge. It was only around the cabin
I was at. I went into town. Nobody was like
snowed brough was it? No? We did could snowed? You
(09:21):
talk about it? And I taken pictures and like when's
that from It was like that's today, and it was
like this is impossible. That couldn't have happened. I was like,
it happened on top of me. And that was right
at the time I went out and again the lightning
bolt at the time when I'm saying I don't believe
bam wow, And I went, oh, excuse me, maybe I
need to Oh, I'm here. I hear you, I hear you,
you know, And he was saying, just checking in on you,
(09:43):
big boy. Thought you you got it going. I appreciate it.
Don't get too big for your brushes. So that I've
had it that way, I've had it other times. We're
just look, I mean you haven't you have your first child, wife,
you're his first child. You want to talk about believe
(10:06):
the birth? Yeah, and sit there. I'm going to hear
in a whale cry or hearing your dog on kids
in the other room laughing together. You see God and
your woman, you see God and your wife like that? Right?
What the how did you do talk about miracles? How
did you do that? How did that? How do you
have that ability? And then you know there's all that people.
(10:28):
I don't know if there's a better word for it.
There's enough coincidences that happened where you're like, you know what, man,
it was a mystery going forward, but now looking back,
there's a science that adds up that I did not
have anything to do with that choice that happened, and
I got the I got grace enough times where I'm like, Okay,
(10:49):
I got nothing to do with that, Matt. That wasn't
my choice. And some things lined up and in ways
that were more than just coincidence to me. And I've
had times where I've taken trips, you know when and
off of my own twenty five days of my own,
and around day fourteen had certain revelations where you know,
when that truth hits you at four am solitude, it
hits you soft as a butterfly, but with a lightning
(11:12):
bolt as well, and you reminded, been reminded of some things.
You know, remember that truth, even when you go back
into the masses in the busy world, do not let
go of that truth, you know. So, yeah, that's what
inspired truth Sleeve. Yeah, she'll come and visit, you know
what I mean, if you if you want more than
just to playing with her, she'll be She'll stay in
(11:34):
your bed all night every day. You know what I mean.
It's talking about truth, y'all? Not okay? Yes, yeah, yeah yeah.
And she'll be there with you forever and then hang
out with you your conscience and everything else, and she'll
be a great friend. But she's tough. She's tough to
live with because you call you on your shit. Yes, right,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
We got to be willing to look truth in the
eyes and deal with that. Like, you know, it's one
thing I was I was happy I said this yesterday.
It's like, you know, integrity to me is being honest
with your self. Yeah, honesty and truth is when you
with other people, but actually having integrity is when you
can be honest with yourself.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
That's hard for some folks. Yeah, it's been hard for
me in my life sometimes. I mean, you know, I
talk about how how I pray in here. I go
through a rolodex in my mind and you know, people
I love and care about, and I until I find
a shot an image of them when they're most themselves,
you know, not the happiest or saddest or emotionally, just
when they're kind of graceful going in and they're like shining.
(12:28):
I go through that and the last person I get
to before I in my prayers, I got to go
through rolodex myself when I'm that way, and that can
take a mighty long time to find that image. And
I've had many times where I'm looking in the mirror
and I'm seeing another you know, and I got to
sit there and hold my gaze until i can call
myself on my on my bullshit, you know, and put
the put the facade down. And that can take a
(12:50):
while to find that for me. But then I'm also
happy to say I've had many days where I can
look myself in the I goo, yes.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Sir, speaking of that. How vulnerable? How vulnerable did you
have to be? And I don't write this book but
to share share it.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah, vulnerable is a funny word. I hadn't worked out
my relationship with definition of vulnerability. Yet. It doesn't feel
I've been told that though I hear what you're saying,
because we would say the same question, and I'm going,
I don't know, is it really I don't feel what's
so vulnerable about it? Because I believe it, So don't
feel like I'm I'm exposing anything myself. If anything. I've
(13:26):
had people go, Wow, that's that's ballsy of you to
talk go talk about belief and grace and forgiveness in
God and in the way you're doing it. I've heard that,
but I don't. I don't. I don't feel like I'm
being brave. I don't feel like I'm being like, oh
my gosh, I really exposed myself. I mean, I think
I'm talking a language that's that I know it's true
(13:48):
to me, and I'm hearing that it's true for others
as well. Now you'll know, man, Hollywood doesn't isn't the
first one to talk about belief in religion or in God,
you know what I mean. But I've had wonderful times
with out there with with with people that are believers
that may not want to admit it publicly prayed with
(14:09):
a bunch of them. I've got a lot of agnostic
friends who do not believe, but we sit there and say,
say are graces and thank you? So, I mean, I
don't know someone's asked me that, or aren't you kind
of afraid to do this since you're Hollywood to go
talk about God? I mean in that kind of a tabot, No,
I mean it never was before for me, and I'm
sure as hecking now. So I'm on my own spiritual
(14:32):
journey trying to is that this book right, this book
is therapy for me. I'm in the middle of it,
going out last night and putting it on its feet
and showing sharing with people and engaging back and forth.
I'm I'm finding more connection with myself as well. I'm
sure you know, because I gotta strengthen my own belief
I want to.
Speaker 6 (14:47):
Are you delivering people like your friends that you're talking
about that are in Hollywood, that you might not have
strong belief or whatever. Do you find yourself kind of
bringing them to what you believe?
Speaker 1 (14:56):
No, No, I'm not. I'm never I'm not. That's not
where I'm putting my sweat equity into conversion. I want
to sit there and go. I do think there's a
lot of people that say, oh, I'm just spiritual, and
I think that's halfway that I'm like, actually, I'm listening
(15:16):
what you're talking about. You're very religious. Actually the religion
I love going back to the root definitions of words.
Religion comes from the Latin root legare, which means to
bind together and re means again, so that's unity. Now,
I hear a lot of people talk about the unity
is what I'm for. I'm not religious, but I'm for unity.
(15:37):
I'm spiritual. I'm like, well, that's actually that's definition of religion.
So what I think, what I try to talk to
people about and remind him, is that I don't think
religion is a problem. It's what man did with it
along the way, and where it excluded so many, and
where it became a business, and where the snake salesman
came out. And have you got reason to be skeptical
(16:00):
people preaching some stuff and what they're selling. But don't
throw religion out. Religion, I think it's all I think
life's religious. It's all religious I do. But don't throw religion.
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Throw religion
out just because mankind bastardized it along the way.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Because I believe in being spiritual more than religious. I
feel like people can get caught up in religion and
they just do all the practices or even get caught
up and going to a place of worship every week,
but you're really not tapped into the spirit. You're just
doing things that you feel like you should do. Because
that's what the religion calls for.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
But don't you think the ritual, the like mantras. You know,
monks they repeat the same thing six times a day
in these psalms, they get to they get ingrained. Don't
you think the ritual of that if it brings you
back the spirit?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Right, If you're just saying, like I'm going to church
on Sunday just because just to make yourself feel better,
it's like going to the gym and not really working out.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah, well, look, I mean sometimes it's
it's the effort of just going I don't have the connection,
but I'm trying. And I think it was a great
Benedictine monk Thomas Merton that said, God, I believe that
(17:13):
trying to please you pleased you, and that sometimes I
gotta go to myself is a little amnesty to go, hey, man,
you're trying me going through the doubts that I've got
to look at that instead of going, oh what the
hell McConaughey going no, it's part of the process. Man,
keep trying. Man, you know we're gonna you know, you don't,
I don't know, I'm not I'm not. Maybe I got
(17:35):
to I do. Maybe I got a lot further to go.
I mean, if you're gonna have full faith, seems if
you're gonna have full faith, that you gotta have full surrender.
I ain't doing that, not yet. I got some more
humility to learn on that way, if that's where I
can go, But I'm not there yet to fully surrender?
Is Hollywood keeping you from doing that? Because you know
(17:57):
when people sighed eye you, and you haven't feel.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Any push back by having, like, you know, putting well
first of all, putting out something so spiritually.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Just I don't. I don't if it's there. Look, I
don't know. Maybe I've been out there thirty five years
and I've got I understood. The community knows me. I
know them if I do. They may be saying it
behind the back, but they understand it to me, and
they're usually much They're much more open, I think than
they've been stereotyped to be. I don't there's not a
(18:26):
pushback now. Like I said, a lot of people may
not go out and say I'm a belite, but they
might want to keep that to themselves. But they're not saying, dude,
what are you doing? It's not like I'm going, well,
we're not going to you know, let's not hire McConaughey
because let's not hang out with him because because also
but I mean, i think they're very, very clear, and
(18:47):
I think I've been clear with who I am. I'm not.
I'm not sitting there so excluding those people from the
table if they do not believe I'm not, that's not
that's not my way, you know. So I've never said
to them, well, pray for this, but we can't have
dinner together. It's not what I'm saying, have no means
(19:11):
to say that, nor do I want to. I'm saying,
come on to the table. And like I said, if
you're not a believer in God, find so. If you
believe in sign and go. If you're not a tyrant
or nihilist, you're not trying to harm people. Whatever it
is you believe in. Double down on more of that science, philosophy,
whatever it is.
Speaker 6 (19:30):
What a like you talked about earlier, reflection and looking
in the mirror and doing I guess doing that all
writ in this book. What's been like the hardest time
that you had to face yourself?
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Hardest time on I had to face myself, Well, before
the first one that comes to mind probably be fifteen
years ago. I was doing rom comms and I was
a go to guy in rom comms and enjoyed them.
But I'd in my real life, I'd met Camilla, fall
(20:05):
in love with her. She was now pregnant with her
first child. And if you got kids, you know, that's
a real vital time life, you know. And as a man,
I don't think there's any time a man is more
maschland than with the birth of a first child, or
the heart, head, body and lays are more aligned then
(20:27):
than ever. So my life was very vital. My work
felt like I could get up and go do that
tomorrow morning. It's nothing wrong with that, but I was
looking for my work to challenge boy, could that be
is maybe as exciting as and as vital as my
life is. And mind you, I did look in the
mirror and say, be damn Glad McConaughey, that you feel
like your life is more vital than your work, not
(20:49):
the other way around. But can we get find some
work that can be as vital as my life? So
I wanted to do dramas. That's where the work I
wanted to do. Hollywood says no, sir, stay in your lane,
so I'll take pay cut. They said, I don't care,
stay in your lane. So I said, all right, I
can't do what I want to do. I'm gonna stop
doing what I've been doing. So went to Texas with Camilla.
(21:10):
She's pregnant, we said, stepping out, told my agent no
more rom Comma Da Da Da da. I said, okay.
And I remember Camilla and I saying that this. You
don't know how long you're gonna go without work. This
could be a drive spell for a while. You don't
win the money yet. Man, I might have just wrote
myself one way money right, all right, I hear you,
(21:33):
and I'm going I hear you. Plus I got accomplished
stuff for my own significance, and now what am I
gonna do? I ain't gonna go down, and you know,
start making chimes for a living, you know. So I'm
I'm I'm out of them, out of rom comms. I'm
I'm not on the beach anymore shirtless, which kind of
looked like I was in a rom common in real
life as well. Right, and uh, I got nothing coming
(21:53):
in my agent's like, man, I hadn't heard your name
in five months, et cetera, et cetera. Damn Yeah. So
now we get into twelve months where year no work.
I'm starting to think maybe I did write myself one
way ticket out of Hollywood. Maybe I need to look
for another vocation. Maybe I'm gonna go back to law school,
become a lawyer. Maybe I've become a teacher. Eighteen months
go by. Check this out, and I think you'll you'll
know exause what I'm talking about when I say this,
(22:15):
This uh rom com action coming to the script comes
in eight million dollar offer. I read it. I said, no,
thank you. They come back. Ten million dollar off. I said, no,
thank you, they come back, twelve million dollar offer. I said,
no thank you, they come back fourteen point five million
dollar offer. I said, let me read that thing again.
(22:39):
So I opened it up the same script as a
million mal offer, but it was better. I can see
myself making this work. Did you was turning it down?
She knew everything, she knew, She thought, now, My brothers
thought I was buck. Brothers were like, what is your
major malfunctional? But I had made the decision, and come on,
I made the decision. There wasn't It was no negogtial
(22:59):
wasn't going back anyway. I read it again, it was better,
but I ultimately he said no thing. And I think
that sent a signal after eighteen months of being out
of Hollywood. Oh old McConaughey bluffing, you know what I mean.
I don't know what he's doing, but he's playing offense.
He's he's turned down fourteen to five. That's not a
(23:19):
receding move to do that. He's up to something. So
you parlay that declining fourteen to five along with eighteen months,
which turns to twenty months out of Hollywood, out of
rom coms, not in the theater, not in your living room.
All of a sudden, well, you know who'd be a novel,
kind of interesting, new good idea for this drama? Killer
(23:42):
Joe or Mud or Lincoln Lawyer now aspires club true
de TEXTI McConaughey. Wow, But only because I unbranded, because
I was gone. I had to go get anonymous, you
know what I mean? Yeah?
Speaker 6 (23:57):
What type of prayers were you seeing during that time?
Because that's all right, the money you know.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
I needed to I trust me that that The old
bottle on the shelf started looking better earlier and earlier
in the day too, you know, I was I lost
my work. Man's got to work for significance and I
didn't have it. You got depressed. No, I didn't get depressed.
I didn't get depressed because thankfully I got a newborn
and the only thing I ever wanted to be, no,
(24:22):
I've ever wanted to be in life is is father.
So anytime I focused on our son, Levi as a
newborn and a new life brought in, that really kept
my compass grounded. It was long days, you know, without
cheapness of my own stuff, but I had that as
an anchor.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
And that's that's such an incredible story because I you know,
when I think about you going from rom com to
an Oscar winning dramatic actor, I always wondered, what was
the pivot or how did you know it was time
to pivot? And just to know it was just an
intentional decision to want to be taken serious. Was That's
That's powerful.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
That was it. And I had to step out, and
it was it was twenty months total that I was out.
And trust me, like I said, I did think that
I just I think I wrote myself a one way
to take it out of Hollywood. What did that teach you
about the power of intention.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
That.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
There's certain decisions like that decision to do that that
came that hit me at four am. You know that
the fact that I wasn't feeling alive in my work,
the fact that it was paling in comparison to how
wonderfully dramatic my life was, that was clear to me
(25:36):
that that's what I needed to make a change, and
I it was a non negotiable. So once again, once
those truths hit, as we talked about earlier, and you go,
I know that's true for me in my soul, but
now I'm going to re engage with the masses, and
slowly that onion can get peeled and you start to go, well,
I can't maybe I could, You know I didn't. It's
(25:57):
very clear. It was like, no, this is I'm not
going back on the idea that if nothing would have
come at twenty months, I was not going to go
back and do what I'd done. I'd be doing something
different if nothing had comes since then, I would be
doing something different in my life right now. I was
not going to go back. So the idea that of
not flinching once you made a decision, and you can
out endure a situation, and you can also seem to
(26:19):
find after a while, like fifteen months of nothing from
going out of my mind, all of a sudden kind
of start to get a little honor in charge and
filled up with like the endurance of it. It's almost like, Okay,
the longer this goes, I got to hunt the reward
on the other sides getting bigger with every day I'm
(26:40):
going through this penance drought. I got a feeling that
that there's a bigger reward over there. I'm in this
for the long game. And you know, thankfully said it
all came back around. I didn't have anything to do
that besides being out of Hollywood, but the offers came
in for the work I wanted to do. But making
a decision, being clear on it and then saying as
(27:01):
I I know this and projecting ahead. It's like COVID.
I think, hey, we did my family did pretty good
in COVID. And one of the things I think was
when it came we sat down, I told the cause
playing on this being this way for ten years, what
damn so think it's going to be longer? And then
when it is over in four years, You're like, oh shit,
(27:21):
I was rolling. I could have handled more. Yeah. Right,
So I was thinking it could be worse than it
was going to be. I was thinking that I may
be in a drought and not get any offers for
five years, and hell, I'm gonna have to find something
else do. Well, luckily it comes in two years in
WHEREK came. You know that's a psalm forty six ten.
Be still and know that I am God. You just
(27:42):
got to be still and hold it and hold it.
Sometimes you change by staying the same, and the world
does this and it comes right back to the baseline
that you're on going. Oh you're brand new, and you're like, no,
I've been right here. I just held you know what
I mean. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
So when you transitioned into drama, Matthew McConaughey, have any
did any of your roles alter your perception of reality?
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Did any of my roles alter my perception of reality? Well,
I will say this, I kind of flipped the script.
Remember earlier I was saying my life was so vital
and my work was paling. The work got so vital
that all of a sudden, I was like I had
a little moment you know, I was like, Oh, my
(28:30):
life's not as vital as my work. Ooh fiction. Playing
these other characters that are written, I'm kind of getting
off to them more than I'm getting off being me
in the documentary That is My Life. That scared me
a little bit too, which is why I started writing.
And then while I wrote Greenlight to when I'm writing
(28:51):
Points Press, I tried been challenging myself for the last
six years, going all right, you know, you go out,
You're doing someone else's script, written by somebody else, directed
by someone else, lends in a camera by someone else,
and edited by someone else. That's for filters from your
raw expression. So I was like, let's get rid of
some filters here. And who are you in life McConaughey,
(29:14):
in this documentary where action has been called the day
you were born and cuts gona be called the day
you leave this life? What are you doing live in
this live show where hands of time or recording it?
And That's what I've been the last six years, kind
of challenging myself. So I go to a book. Now
if there is one filter with the book, because it's
a written word the performance, right, there's no filter. That's
(29:34):
direct to the audience. So it was one filter. But
I wanted to see if the written word and I
could tell some personal stories that could be entertaining that
people could see themselves in and go and then go
look in there and go, you did that good job, McConaughey,
or you know, here's where you could have made it
even more true or better. And I wanted to need that.
(29:55):
And so that's sort of a phase I'm in now
where I'm still doing work. What made lost bus made
another one called the Ribbers of M'SI and I tell
you I went back to you know, it spent six
years since it acting in a role. I one forgot
how much I enjoyed it, and two forgot how much
it feels like a vacation because it's a singular focus.
And I've been compartmentalizing more of the last six years,
(30:17):
taking on more different things, checking out leadership roles, writing books, family,
et cetera. But the singular focus of going to act
and going I'm obsessed and all I revered this craft
enough to be obsessed with my man, this character. In
every idle moment I've got, I've got work I can
do to tell more of the truth on this character,
(30:38):
and I give myself three months to do that. That
sort of blinders. Yeah, And I think for my wife
that when I go out the door every morning, she
got the kids and says, don't look over your shoulder,
go conquer. I got this shit handled, big, big help.
But I'm able to just singular focused when I go
act and I missed. It felt like a vacation. Why
didn't the Yellowstone spend off happen? So we talked about it,
(30:59):
Taylor and I. It just never it never came to
I never saw a script I wanted to see, you
know what. The the idea was good, it just never
got the script form. So Taylor and I continue to
talk about what might be the best way to work together.
So you were you were attached to it like it
was actually happen. Well, I mean I was. It came out.
I'm always curious about this because it came out my attachment,
(31:22):
which I wouldn't never signed anything. There wasn't any real attachment.
It just Taylor and I creedively talking about it could
be a good idea, right. But it was interesting because
it came out in the news in the trades about
the same time Coster's leaving, so I don't know if
it was publicly put out there to sort of counterbalance.
We got the exit of our guy Gostler, who we've
(31:43):
all known, so let's make sure it looks like we've
got somebody else coming in that we can be excited about.
So there was never a contract or anything. It was
just he and I. He and I talking about it,
and what about this Barbie sequel? You really gonna be
in the Barbie? Said O, Man, I don't know. Someone
came up with that. No, someone just I think American Frere,
just like who's in Lost Bus with me? I think
(32:06):
she mentioned it on some talk show going you could
be the King of Kens and he kins, I can
put a font to that. Hey, let's put a picture
up all of a sudden, I some of the show,
he said yesterday, I'm on some show and I'm there
in a white suit at Kings. That's just as real
as that is. Would you do it? I don't know.
It sounds like it could be fun.
Speaker 5 (32:22):
You know, it'd be good for the kids.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 6 (32:26):
And then with the Lost Bus, I saw that you
when your son because he's in a movie with you. Yeah,
Leb yeah, Levi, you asked for his last name to
be taken off when you submitted his casting video.
Speaker 5 (32:35):
Yeah, what was the dad decision to do that?
Speaker 6 (32:37):
Like?
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah, so I pitched every you know story of the
script that a movie I'm going to do the family
and this one has a son, and my son comes
to me and goes, hey, your son cash? Yeah, I
said no. He goes, how old is it kidding the
script about your age? Say, it's kind of can I
read for it? And I'm like, huh, kind of ignored him.
I wanted to. I want to see some hustles. He
(32:59):
He's not just coming at me like this is a
whim right. Well, he kept badgering me and kept badgering me,
and finally go okay, all right, so first of all,
let's sit down. Let me talk you about this acting gig.
This ain't you don't show up with attitude. There ain't
no modeling gig. This is a rodeo man. You gotta
go with soul and nobleshit in your bones. All right,
So just set the table of this is a serious craft.
(33:19):
And then we talked him for a couple of days
and then he said I've got to see and I'd
love to shoot. I pulled up my phone shot him
and I was like, Okay, he holds a camera, all right,
he can behave honestly in front of the camera. He
can even improvise. Did well? I send that to the
cash and director? I said, I think this might be
good enough for a callback. She writes back, I think
it might be good enough to send to the director. Okay, great.
(33:41):
Can you do me a favor and pull his last name?
Because you know, forgetting nepotism? Just what if he got
the job with my last name? You're at a bar,
right or he's got it thinking in his mind? Did
part of the reason I got that? Because come on,
(34:02):
that ain't a good friend. That's why we didn't name
it Matthew, so it would be Matthew Jr. You know
what I mean? Although Levi is another name for Matthew.
We got away with that, Yeah, saying Matthew jeans post alone.
Get on that way? You got your prayers in print, right? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (34:22):
How often do your prayers going going answers? And do
you still trust God in those seasons that they do?
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Where is there any such thing as an unanswered prayer?
Meaning if you don't get what you're praying for, and
now that it's still an answer. Sometimes you know, Mighty
gave you what you need, not what you wanted. What
you need what you want right, that's and and and
and you know, it's funny sometimes when I hear people
(34:55):
praying for it because you've got blue collar prayers and
you've got white collar prayers. You hear someone praying death.
You know, win that oscar, get that yacht. You're going, Man,
I hang on, but I ain't. Guys got better stuff
to do. Man, you talk about as white collar prayers
that ain't ain't working. We got to talk about what
do you need now? What you want now? I do
(35:17):
think my definition of heaven on earth is where what
you want is what you need, and what you need
is what you want, Where what you actually need is
what you desire, or what you desire, what you're salacious for,
what you lust for is actually what you need is
actually worth loving, hard place to get to. But boy,
when that's when in the pocket, I think that's when
(35:39):
we're in the honey hole right there. You know, some
people say, what could you still be praying for?
Speaker 3 (35:43):
Because you have the Oscar, you have the fame, you
have the money you had those.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Yeah, I never prayed for any of those either. Okay,
no way, I'd feel like I'd feel like a fraud
praying for that again, I think that would be a
white collared prayer. Where God's going on. I got, I got,
I got real stuff to try and handle, you know
what I mean. I pray for the health of my family.
I pray for myself to be the type of father
(36:08):
that can maintain a healthy family unit. I pray for
UH to have the patience to sometimes be a what
I would call better husband. I pray for the discernment
to listen and try to make the choices that can
feed me and my family and life going forward, to
(36:29):
make decisions that will pay me back for the long term,
for the long haul, and for the decisions that can
those decisions that can pay me back also, where are
those also the ones that can pay the most people back.
That's the kind of things I pray for, you know.
And then I mom's ninety three, man, you know, he's awesome,
(36:51):
and she's rolling and from the neck up, she's younger
than that. We'll see how long the body holds up.
But I pray for and I, you know, I don't
even know. She feels like I need to pray for her.
She's she's she's great. She's good. Man. When she's ready
to go, she goes tomorrow. She's good. You know what
I mean. She's nothing sentlemental about it her. She can
talk about death like right here in front of you,
like you're talking about drink of water.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
Older people, Margaret, mother's the same way they get.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
They live like they it's like your revolutionary when you're young, right,
and then you get your thirties and forties and you
start to go, oh, some of that stuff Mom and
dad taught me was right. So I'm gonna get a
little more responsible. And then you get about sixty and
what they slip back. They don't give a shit about it.
I mean hurting anybody. Oh, they'll get over it. And
you're like, like, my mom, the stuff she'll lie about,
I would do her. She's still lying in ninety three.
(37:37):
Oh yeah, yeah. She's like, she's like, oh yeah, you lie,
I swear to it. So she starts telling me she
she's done some crazy stuff. Man. She had this, uh
she had this boyfriend that my dad died and uh
uh he was living at the house and stuff, And
they've been dating for about a year and a half
and they lived out this country club out in southwest Houston,
(38:00):
and my brother Pats playing golf one day and these
four older gentlemen on the other fairway call them over
and go, hey, pack, congratulations. Man pass about what and
he goes about your mom c J. The marriage. He's
like what Mary, Oh yeah, yeah, we all heard about it.
So he goes home, Mom, what'd you do? We're talking about? No,
I just so you got oh that? What what'd you do? Mom? Well,
(38:28):
the monthly bills the club are four hundred if your
only partners, but there are two fifty if you're married.
Come on, dragged her down to the country club, made
her get on the mic and tell everyone I was
bullshit and I was lying out of so she do
stuff like that, right, And I'm like, yeah, you know
(38:50):
not to lie, blah blah blah blah. And I go,
do you have anything, Mom? No one forgives themselves quicker
than you do. You have anything at the night. But
when you roll the deck through your mind about things,
you may regret things you want to change it her.
She goes, oh, honey, I do every night. I got
a list. It's probably twenty five things on I got regrets,
things I change, oh, things that I just I'm sorry for,
she said. But you know the thing is, when I
(39:11):
wake up in the morning, I forgot them all. That's
her and she's not a shallow woman at all. But
boy does she move on from And she doesn't generally
judge people. That's another thing about her. She has zero stress,
zero stress. Yeah, anyway, that's my mom.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
I didn't realize they told us the wrapt five minutes ago.
So my last question, if you could go back and
talk to the version of yourself that first said all right,
all right, all right, yeah, what would you.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Tell that person? Days Confused nineteen ninety first scene I
was ever in a movie and tell you where it's from.
I'm wasn't even supposed to work that night. I'd never
acted before, I'd never been on screen. All right, So
all of a sudden, I'm in this car getting a
lava leer Mike put up. I mean the scene is
I'm gonna try to pick up this red headed intellectual
(40:03):
who's played by Marissa Robisi, and she's got nerds in
the car, and I'm Woodson, who's hanging out at school
and then I'm older, but I still like the high
school girl, So pull and pick her up. Nothing's written.
Gonna improvise this. Well. As I'm getting the mic put
on me, I'm starting to get a little nervous.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
Make sure you're acting with that line, because they'll take
that out of context and put that on the internet.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
That's Watterson and everything. Everything I'm about to say, gotta
remember us talking talking the first person from our characters.
There's plenty, plenty of times, plenty of times through the day.
You could record what I'm saying and put me in jail.
I'm going on, I'm peeking through the pills someone else. Right.
(40:41):
So Woodson was a guy who was hanging out the
high school. He was out, and that's he has the line.
There's a great line written run there like, man, you
gotta you gotta quit. You know you gotta cut that
out work, And he says, no, that's what I love
about those high school girls. Man, I get older, they
stayed the same.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Aig that was you have to have to double down.
We got it, we got a right. I raved that
line because people know that a right anyway.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
So I'm sitting there nervous about this first scene, starting
to get you know, a little anxious, and I'm like,
who's my man? Who's Wooterson? Going through my head? Who's
my guy? I got a Wooterson man loves loves it,
love my car, I said, Boom, I remember seveny chavelle.
There's one, I said Woterson. Watterson loves rock and roll,
I said, boom. I got ted NuGet stranglehold in the
eight track. There's too, I said. Waterson loves to get high.
I said, Oh, Slater's riding shot gun. He's always got
(41:26):
to do. We rolled up all of a sudden, I
hear action. Now as I hear action, I look up,
put it in drive, and as I pull out to
go do the fourth thing that Watterson lens he likes ladies. Yes,
I say the three things, and affirmation for the three
things that I do have. All right, all right, all right.
Those were three affirmations. And that actually was based off
(41:49):
of a live doors concert and Jim Morrison barks at
the crowd all right, all right, all right, all right,
And I had listened to it, heard that four months earlier,
and for whatever reason, my version of it three times
came out that night. So what would you tell that
version of yourself. Hey, you may think this is gonna
be a hobby where you gotta have a fun weekend
(42:11):
acting in Austin, Texas one summer in your life. Well
guess what, buddy, this is gonna be more than a hobby.
It's gonna be a career and you're gonna end up
loving it. Wow. Matthew McConaughey, I'm sorry, real quick.
Speaker 4 (42:26):
Did you improve your role in Oh my God, The
Leonardo the Wall Street?
Speaker 1 (42:31):
Did you?
Speaker 4 (42:32):
It was that improv all of that?
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Well, not all of it, no, but but but quite
a bit was I mean, you know people ask about
the chest beating, All right, that's something I'll do before
scenes and I've done many times before. It's a relaxation technique,
you know, get to get out of head. It's getting
the rhythm. Yeah, let's get the blood flowing. And it's
good because the whole crew is going. Was he doing what?
(42:56):
It's the weird and it's nice to put himself in
an underdog position so I can out of it, right.
And then I was doing that before the scene. Yell action,
I'd stop. We do the scene. We do the scene
five times we got it moving on. Great, nailed it
moving on. All of a sudden, Leonardo raises his hand
and says, hey, Marty, hang on a second. He goes,
what's that thing you're doing before I told him? When
(43:16):
I just told you? And he goes, what if you
did that in the scene? Next take is what you
see on on film?
Speaker 4 (43:21):
I love it, I love it.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Wow, it's Matthew McConaughey poems and prays. Good.
Speaker 3 (43:27):
Great conversation with you, brother, Poems and prais is out
right now, man, Thank you for coming, brother.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
I appreciate you, sir.
Speaker 5 (43:33):
Having and the Lost Bus is in theaters Friday.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Yeah. Yes, it's the Breakfast Club every day a week ago.
Click your ass up, the Breakfast Club. You don't finish,
So y'all have done it.
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