Mr. McConaughey, throughout your acting career, you’ve played an incredible variety of characters. Which type of role do you connect with best?
At some point when I’m really doing the craft well, I feel like every one of them is me. Every one is some part of me. Sometimes I may have to go further into my imagination, because I don’t understand that part of their personality, but then I find out and I do understand, and I turn up the volume on that part of me. Every character is a journey into finding who are they in me, at some point. Look, I can find a way to understand and believe in someone if they have identity — and boy, if you get good writing and the identity is there, like with Rustin Cole, my character in True Detective, the identity was there. I didn’t have to act as much because the words were so good. It was just about understanding the words, believing in them and saying them. Don’t explain them!
And what if the identity is not there in the script, not built up in that way?
If the identity is not there on the page, then sometimes my job is to go find it. The hardest ones are the ones where the writing’s not good, the ones when you’re feeling like anybody could have played the role. And the easiest ones are the ones where you’re like, “Nobody else could have played this,” which is the ownership that I love to get to, and I think every actor loves to get to. But if you’re two weeks into shooting, you’re still going, “I don’t know… I mean, I can think of quite a few other actors that could have played this part…” Oh, that’s hard.
“I realized again when I did come back how much I love acting! It’s a singular obsession. I have such reverence for the craft.”
Is that why you seemingly took a break from acting for the past few years? Because the roles didn’t have that identity you were looking for?
It was a deliberate break from acting, but the reason was that I was exploring other things, looking at different forms of leadership. Writing, especially, I fell in love with writing, and really so enjoyed the process — a process that took me years to get the confidence to try. But then once I did, the love affair I’m having with writing is extraordinary. But it’s also a very hermetic experience, I write alone… It was about exploring. I needed a little objectivity in my own life, because acting is a very subjective experience. I realized again when I did come back how much I love acting! It’s a singular obsession. I have such reverence for the craft that I believe that if all I do is tend to this script, tend to my man, my character, and keep turning over every single rock I can… If I just do that, that’s good work. I do that, and I still come home see the family at the end of the day. I believe that’s time really well spent. So the singular obsession, the one track mind is kind of like a vacation!
Did you miss acting when you stopped?
I missed it when I started doing it again! I didn’t miss it at all but then I came back and did it, I was like, “Oh, I missed this so much,” you know?
Did you ever think about quitting acting completely?
No, I never was thinking to hang up my hat. What I was thinking was… We get these stories written by someone else, directed by someone else, edited by someone else, seen through a lens by someone else. The exercise of writing my memoir Green Lights was totally different. I’m directing this. I’m writing it through my lens, I’m editing. I wanted that. And that was a metaphor for how I was looking at my life: “Action!” is called the day we’re born, and “Cut!” is called the day we die. So, what’s the documentary? What’s the script I’m writing? What’s hap where? What is my life? What’s the film I’m living? I’ve been pressing into that for quite a few years now, and just being conscientious of it. So to come back to what I said earlier, coming back to film for The Lost Bus was like a vacation! “Thank you for someone else’s script. Thank you for someone else directing this!” I’m tired, man! (Laughs)
And what made you decide that this film was the right one to come back for?
I really wanted to work with Paul Greengrass, I think he’s one of our directors in the world of film that can really grab a visceral sense of urgency in an epic. The film has a lot of action and at the same time tells a story that’s deeply personal… The internal and external, that dynamic, he’s really wonderful with that. Plus I think if I can find a story that is based in truth, based on facts, that’s always kind of a plus for me. I mean, if it’s a great story to read and a great character, I love it, but that’s a bonus for me, when a film is based on real facts. That turns me up!
“I’ve accomplished things as an actor, I’ve covered a lot of genres, I’ve covered a lot of lot of people and humanity, I’ve won some trophies. But I’ve never had the feeling like, ‘Ah, I did it.’”
I suppose it also helps to build up that identity we were discussing earlier.
Paul and I worked a lot finding the identity so I could have a personal experience as me Matthew, the actor, portraying the bus driver, Kevin, who is a real person. We talked about second chances, which is not really on the surface of the movie. And I needed that. Performers need that backstory to understand how they’re moving through the world, because things like that fuel the character’s decision-making. Those are things that inform how a character moves and behaves that you may not see, or that maybe they’re not set on screen, but they’re necessary for the actor.
With this new comeback to film, do you also have new goals as an actor? New achievements you’ve set your sights on?
Look, I mean… I’ve accomplished things as an actor, I’ve covered a lot of genres, I’ve covered a lot of lot of people and humanity, I’ve won some trophies. But I’ve never had the feeling like, “Ah, I did it.” I’ve never felt that way. I mean, overall I just want to investigate my own life and say, Who am I? I ended up taking two years off out of rom-coms, right? Because my life was so vital, but yet my work didn’t feel vital. And I will say this: a few years back, I did start to feel like my work was more vital than my life. It got to be like, “Oh, I want to check in back on life and see if I can make sure that’s got the gusto and what I’m doing has got the vitality.” So I think I’m just calibrating and regulating along the way.