Matthew McConaughey is in the midst of a “McConaissance” – and he's loving every minute of it.
“That term I heard ?? somebody said it in Sundance,” said the Best Actor winner for “Dallas Buyers Club” backstage at the Oscars on Sunday. “I was like I didn't know what he said, but he was like, 'you're on a McConaissance.' And he went on, said it's an expression. I was like, 'Wait, wait, go back. What did you just say?' He goes, 'McConaissance.' I was like, 'I don't know what that is, but it sounds good.'”
Indeed, the actor has been on a major career upswing over the past several years, having taken on roles in such acclaimed films as “Mud,” “Killer Joe,” “Lincoln Lawyer,” “Magic Mike” and, of course, “Dallas Buyers Club.”
“I've been more like F?it, go for the experience, Matthew,” he said to his recent career choices. “What's the personal experience I can get out of this as an actor? And lovemaking, the daily construction and architecture, the making of a movie, and when it's over, be fulfilled in the making of that movie.”
As for his big moment on stage, McConaughey echoed his Golden Globes acceptance speech by evoking one of the more famous bits of dialogue from his 1993 film debut “Dazed and Confused”: “All right, all right, all right.” So aside from being his first movie, why is the Richard Linklater classic so important to him?
“1992 I was one week into working on my first job, 'Dazed and Confused,' my father [passed away] six days into working on my job,” he said. “Now in hindsight I've looked back, he got to be alive for me doing the one thing that was not my fad, hobby or job, we didn't know it then, but it turned out to be my career, and that's why I was actually ?? he came to my mind tonight in speaking about him.”
To watch McConaughey's full press conference, click on the video above.