What would you do if you only had 30 days to live?
Matthew McConaughey: I knew that question was coming [laughs]. I don’t know though. I never thought about it.
How difficult do you think it was for Ron to be living in Texas with AIDS at that time?
Matthew McConaughey: Well it wasn’t even just Texas. At that time, if you were a heterosexual with AIDS, not many people would believe that you were a heterosexual. That suspicion is still there today even. But boy at that time, it was a new frontier. The disease had just hit and even the doctors didn’t know what to do with it. There were all kind of ideas and theories about where it came from and who got it. No one had the answers. There was no concrete information. That wasn’t just in the South or in Texas, it was everywhere.
You never stop working, but in the past year or so we’ve really seen this transformation from you, starting with Tropic Thunder. It was also the first time that we saw critics really being kinder to you. Now, you’re on a roll and you don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. What’s going on in your head? Are you doing something differently?
Matthew McConaughey: I’m going for more experiences. When I make my choices now I ask myself what kind of experience am I going to have? I want to pick things that scare me but also things that I can’t get off my mind.
Was Tropic Thunder different for you?
Matthew McConaughey: It was a different kind of comedic role, yes. It was fun to play a character and not characterize it. Richard Linklater and I do that when we work together. There’s a character there and it’s a different kind of comedy. It’s not me being funny, it’s playing a character and hopefully it’s funny. I love comedy, I am really turned on by it. It’s a ton of fun and I love the timing of it.
I trust you like getting good reviews.
Matthew McConaughey: Sure. Well there’s constructive good reviews and constructive bad reviews. Then there’s bad reviews where the critic wrote the review before they even saw my film. They just don’t like me. There’s good ones too where someone would write it before they even saw the film because they like me. I’ve read all my bad reviews though, and I’ve gotten some good things out of them actually. I’ve seen some constructive criticism along the way that really made sense. Even if it’s a bad review, sometimes they bring up good points.
That concludes our interview but we’d like to thank Matthew very much for talking with us. Be sure to check out Dallas Buyers Club when it hits theatres this Friday!