What did we learn from Matthew McConaughey’s new interview with GQ? Well, a lot of things. For example, in the very first paragraph, we learned that he always carries a leather journal filled with “stray thoughts, doodles, visual diagrams of future roles, and whatever else pops into his head.” How much would you pay for a peek at Matthew McConaughey’s Deep Thoughts & Doodles journal? Just a peek. Be honest. $20? $50? $10,000? God, I’m so curious about what’s in there right now that I could just die.
What else, what else? There’s a bunch of stuff about fatherhood, and his wild-man older brother Rooster (who, as Vince helpfully pointed out, has children he named “Miller Lyte” and “Margarita Olympia,” after his favorite drinks), and what exactly went into “the McConaissance” that resulted in critically-acclaimed turns in True Detective and Dallas Buyers Club. And there’s one answer where he talks about not having to work out to maintain his physique that ends with an aside from the writer that reads “[Five minutes later, mid-conversation, McConaughey drops to the Oriental rug on the floor of the hotel room we’re in and begins absentmindedly doing push-ups, ‘just to wake up’],” which is about three or four different kinds of perfect. But my favorite exchange was this one, in which he defends his stretch of rom-coms and beach-bumming in the mid-2000s.
You’ve been famous since your early twenties. Did you feel like it was a problem, having your image set at such a young age?
I’ve never had fears that I was stuck in one thing. I’m sure we’re going to talk about the years when I was in romantic comedies and I was seen as the guy who was on the beach, running around shirtless. I did that. Damn right that was me. I wasn’t scared like, “Oh God, I’m going to be stuck here.” But I was like, I understand at some point that that is in italics now. So I said, “You know what? I’m not going to be openly presenting that for a while. I’m going to un-brand.”
But there was truth in the italics?
Well, it has two parts. One was the myth that was branded and created. Second, yeah, it’s me. I did Fool’s Gold in Australia, had a summer in Malibu, and made a surfer film—basically, when you edit those all together, it was one continuous ninety-degree day on the beach without a shirt. But also, I worked hard to live in Malibu, California. I’m going to the beach! I’m gonna go surfing! No, I don’t want to wear a shirt. I want to get a tan and feel the sun on my bones. And it’s Tuesday. You’re recording it? Good for you.
So, two things: First of all, that’s a great answer, and it’s a little crazy to look back at that period now knowing what we know today. His transformation — in the public eye, at least — from a shirtless bubble gum rom-com actor and bongo aficionado to a serious award-winning thespian who does Lincoln commercials between iconic roles has been wild. Good for him. And good for us, too, because it means we’re still getting interviews in which he’s talking about his dream journal and saying his performance in Magic Mike was about taking the McConaughey myth and “sending it to the Smithsonian” to get it bronzed.
Second, when you do a Getty image search for “mcconaughey beach,” something like a dozen pictures of him doing push-ups on the sand pop-up. That seems like a good way to wrap things up here.