For thirty-five years I have been thinking about, remembering, recognizing, collecting and writing down things that have fascinated me or helped me on my life path.
How to enjoy life.
How to avoid stress.
How to be honest.
How to be good.
How not to offend people.
How not to be offended.
How to find the meaning of life.
How to get what you want.
How to be yourself.
How to enjoy life.
How to avoid stress.
How to be honest.
How to be good.
How not to offend people.
How not to be offended.
How to find the meaning of life.
How to get what you want.
How to be yourself.
"This book was my obsession. I wrote an average of 19 hours a day. In total, I spent 52 days alone. This is the most real and sincere of everything that I have ever created."
I think I’ll write a book.
A word about my life.
I wonder who would give a damn
About the pleasures and the strife?
A word about my life.
I wonder who would give a damn
About the pleasures and the strife?
I
You would be surprised to know that more than 30 years ago, Matthew McConaughey wrote a poem in which he vowed to become a writer.
Now this poem is printed at the beginning of McConaughey's autobiography, Green Light. McConaughey writes lightly about failures: how he was not considered a serious actor for a long time; how his career died down in the 2000s, how he lost interest in the profession.
Now this poem is printed at the beginning of McConaughey's autobiography, Green Light. McConaughey writes lightly about failures: how he was not considered a serious actor for a long time; how his career died down in the 2000s, how he lost interest in the profession.
Book writing story
With this book, you can take a front row look at the life McConaughey lived, from his childhood in a rowdy Texas family to his rise as the gritty and serene star of films such as Magic Mike, True Detective and Dallas Buyers Club.
This is the perfect holiday book. She infects with love for life.
This is the perfect holiday book. She infects with love for life.
47
№1
300
weeks in the top
The New York Times
fascinating pages
“No matter how they see me,
I know exactly what I can give as Matthew McConaughey”
I know exactly what I can give as Matthew McConaughey”
II
They got married when Camille was pregnant with her third child. Matthew writes about this woman so enthusiastically and with such tenderness that one wants to believe in true love in Hollywood.
Camilla — future mother
He did not have a co-author when writing Green Light, but he notes the support of his wife, Camila Alves McConaughey.
“Suddenly for me, she said: Get into your mobile home, take food, water and tequila and don’t come back until you write something, And now I’m calling a friend who has a small house and I’m going to the desert.”
“Suddenly for me, she said: Get into your mobile home, take food, water and tequila and don’t come back until you write something, And now I’m calling a friend who has a small house and I’m going to the desert.”
In July 2005, my friends and I were sitting at the Hyde Club and I was mixing a Margarita cocktail. And then I saw her. In the gloomy neon haze of the hall, a figure hovered - caramel skin, a turquoise dress of the softest silk.
She didn't carry anything. She didn't go anywhere. She moved weightlessly where she needed to go. Her head didn't bob. And her feet didn't seem to touch the floor. She was impressive—and enlightening. Playful and serious. Young and wise. Provincial and cosmopolitan. Naive and cunning. Fresh and spicy. Housewife and Queen. Not a virgin, but not for sale. Future mother.
Matthew wanted people to understand right away that they were being offered not just another sweet story of a Hollywood star, but something else - real, not fictional, not sleek. Therefore, he described the evening after the Oscar ceremony in two sentences:
Life the way it is
They called my name. I won an Oscar for Best Actor." But five pages was barely enough for me to describe how one day I was drinking all night with strangers in some bar on the outskirts of Montana! That was really interesting.
Yes, our family did not hide their emotions. All McConaugheys easily lost their temper. But just as easily, we began to cry if we were touched by something. If you had a problem, you immediately laid it out in front of the whole family. And we also loved openly and desperately.
There was one rule - never go to bed angry at someone! The bed is a bad place for resentment and anger. I adhere to this rule today.”
There was one rule - never go to bed angry at someone! The bed is a bad place for resentment and anger. I adhere to this rule today.”
Childhood
My birth was an accident. Parents tried for many years to have another child, but to no avail, so until the fifth month of pregnancy, my mother believed that she had a tumor. When the labor began, my father went not to the hospital, but to the bar, because he suspected that I was not from him. And yet I am from him.
My ancestors never trusted the government, the president. Dad dreamed of hitting the jackpot, paying off his debts and opening his own gambling house somewhere in Florida. My brothers and I were afraid of our father and loved him at the same time.
My father hated his job. He played all the time and usually failed. At the same time, he threatened to kill those to whom he owed. And they sent threats and warnings to him through sullen strangers.
My father hated his job. He played all the time and usually failed. At the same time, he threatened to kill those to whom he owed. And they sent threats and warnings to him through sullen strangers.
“What has remained unchanged in Matthew's life is his honesty and loyalty to himself. He knows exactly who he is and knows how to use this knowledge.”
“I grew up in a family of hardened rule breakers! There was no other law for them but the Bible.”
III
Mom Kay
Matthew in his childhood
“Father told us: I will die making love to your mother! And he kept his word”
Iv
Dad broke mom's middle finger four times so she wouldn't show "fuck" him. And her mother broke her father's nose with a phone while he was waving a ketchup bottle at her. It all ended in a stormy reconciliation right on the kitchen floor. That's the kind of love they had!
Parents fight
He always told me: "I will only die in bed, making love to my mother." And so it happened. He woke up in the morning and made love to a woman he divorced twice and married three times. With his wife Kay. And when he finished, he had a heart attack. Father predicted everything correctly.
First wedding [22.12.1954]
Second wedding [18.12.1959]
Parents were people not without oddities, they divorced twice in order to get married again three times.
The actor idolizes Jim's father to this day. Dad had to be addressed as “sir”, although “sir” stole, loved all sorts of fraud, and forced respect into his sons by force.
The actor idolizes Jim's father to this day. Dad had to be addressed as “sir”, although “sir” stole, loved all sorts of fraud, and forced respect into his sons by force.
Mom Kay loved to speculate on her son's name, wanted to get her moment of fame and participated in a talk show, after which Matthew did not communicate with her for eight years.
Parents relationship
Carefully,
violence scenes!
violence scenes!
“I have been thinking about my existence all the time, looking for meaning in my life, but now for the first time I have questioned the existence of God. Not only did I lose faith in God, but I began to rely even more on my own strength and on free will.
I was no longer going to attribute my failures to fate and fate, I was ready to rule over myself, blame and justify myself. I longed to prove to myself that my fate entirely and completely depended on me alone."
I was no longer going to attribute my failures to fate and fate, I was ready to rule over myself, blame and justify myself. I longed to prove to myself that my fate entirely and completely depended on me alone."
Philosophy of life
"Green light" for Matthew is a traffic light signal, which means "move forward." According to the actor, in order to recognize such signals, you need a certain skill and intuition.
According to him, to come to the conclusion that everything in life depends on luck is to surrender to the mercy of fate:
“Don't let yourself get off the hook, McConaughey. If that's true, then go for every red light. The wheel is in your hands. It is you who makes the choice. And every choice you make matters."
According to him, to come to the conclusion that everything in life depends on luck is to surrender to the mercy of fate:
“Don't let yourself get off the hook, McConaughey. If that's true, then go for every red light. The wheel is in your hands. It is you who makes the choice. And every choice you make matters."
In the end, today's difficulties in the rearview mirror of your life will turn out to be a blessing in disguise. In time, yesterday's red light leads you to green light.
“The wheel is in your hands. You are the one who makes the choice and every choice you make matters.”
v
"Magic Mike" [2012]
"Fool's Gold" [2008]
Then the producers began to ask: “Where is that guy with a naked torso on the beach?” And I answer them - here, I was here all the time, I just put on a shirt!
Each paparazzi considered it his duty to photograph McConaughey during his morning runs in Malibu — the actor performed them with a naked torso. Directors and producers insisted that he demonstrate this same torso on the screen. And he did it in all romantic comedies.
“I'm tired of being talked about like that guy with a naked torso”
vI
"Dazed and Confused"
[1993]
[2001]
[2003]
[2006]
[2008]
[2009]
[2001]
[2003]
[2006]
[2008]
[2009]
Carier start
"Dazed and Confused"
"The Wedding Planner"
"How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"
"Failure to Launch"
"Fool's Gold"
"Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"
"The Wedding Planner"
"How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"
"Failure to Launch"
"Fool's Gold"
"Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"
"The Wedding Planner"
"How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"
"Failure to Launch"
"Fool's Gold"
"Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"
“Look, I'm getting tired of this. They didn't even remember my name. And I told my agent - no more such a role! And he: “But they pay well for this!” I answered him: “I don't care about your bucks!” After all, I'm a grown man, I already have children.
He insisted on his own and was left without a job. I don't remember now how long it went on. Damn long. They stopped offering me roles. Two years later, the proposals appeared again, says McConaughey.
End of Patience
Trailer park stories
Many then thought that I was crazy. But it wasn't. I felt free. And it was great. I had everything I needed. I ate what I liked, drank coffee of the strength that I love. My faithful Miss Hood was with me. And also a favorite plate, favorite knife and fork.
In the late 90s, I became disillusioned with the acting profession. And he went on a trip to America with his dog named Miss Hood. For a long time he lived on the beach in a trailer, traveled around America and stopped at random places, swam in the Amazon, learned the life of the Bedouins.
If someone wanted to offer me a role, I answered like this: if you need me, fly to one of the cities near where I am at the moment. And we'll meet right on the highway near the airport. I'll drive by car, in it and discuss everything.
By the way, this is what happened when Steven Spielberg invited me to play in his film Amistad. We discussed everything with him, I agreed. Then he chose a trailer park in Rhode Island, which was closest to the location of the filming, and lived there while they continued.
If someone wanted to offer me a role, I answered like this: if you need me, fly to one of the cities near where I am at the moment. And we'll meet right on the highway near the airport. I'll drive by car, in it and discuss everything.
By the way, this is what happened when Steven Spielberg invited me to play in his film Amistad. We discussed everything with him, I agreed. Then he chose a trailer park in Rhode Island, which was closest to the location of the filming, and lived there while they continued.
During that period of my uninterrupted travel around the country, I could arrange a halt anywhere. It was only in the morning that I realized where I was. Somehow I woke up, and next to me a grizzly was drinking water from the river! One day I stopped the car at night and fell asleep. And in the morning I was awakened by the sound of a train. It turned out that I spent the night one and a half meters from the railway!" - says Matthew.
Adventure and freedom
“I still don’t like staying in hotels. Holiday Inn, MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Four Seasons in Beverly Hills - this is not my thing. I can't stand two nights there. For me, it's much better to sleep in a car or in a trailer. The smaller the space, the freer I feel. You may not believe it, but it is. There is a feeling of an open road - I will wake up and I can go wherever I want.
I ate peyote (a cactus with psychotropic properties) in Real de Cators in Mexico while sitting in a mountain lion cage. Later, the doctor put seventy-eight stitches in my forehead. I got four concussions from four tree falls, three of them on a full moon. I was naked until the cops arrested me.
"It's better for me to sleep in a car or trailer. The smaller the space the freer I feel"
VII
First big role
That day the walk was very unusual. Of the four hundred hundred passers-by, three hundred and ninety stared at me. Four people did not notice me - three babies and a blind man. I furtively checked to see if my fly was buttoned up, and rubbed my nose: what if there was a booger? Everything was OK. What the hell? I became famous.
Matthew recounts how he landed the role of lovable scoundrel Wooderson in Dazed and Confused by stalking casting director Don Phillips in an Austin bar and charming him enough to call him for an audition.
A Time to Kill was shown in theaters across America. That weekend, the box office grossed $15 million, a record for 1996.
A Time to Kill was shown in theaters across America. That weekend, the box office grossed $15 million, a record for 1996.
“He wants to be heard on another level,” says Linklater. “On the one that is not available to a person who plays some kind of role.”
friend director Richard Linklater
Linklater explains that actors like McConaughey are very vulnerable in their work. “They don’t have full control. Even the most talented of them are at the mercy of the roles they are offered. And actors need other ways to express themselves.”
“People don’t fully appreciate that everything Matthew does is intentional. He has a talent for getting from point A to point B, and then to point C. He always has a plan, and he has enough courage and arrogance to carry out this plan.”
"A Time to Kill"
[1996]
[1996]
"Dazed and Confused"
[1993]
[1993]
VIII
“Out of 400 passers-by,
396 stared at me. Four did not notice me - three babies and a blind man”
396 stared at me. Four did not notice me - three babies and a blind man”
Say "no" to hear "yes". My sacrifice was accepted, I survived the hurricane. I calculated everything, knew what I wanted, and was ready for the answer. Now I had to say yes and reincarnate. To hell with money.
I need variety.
I need variety.
I read the script for Dallas Buyers Club and immediately staked out the role of the main character, Ron Woodroof. The film was shot in 25 days and cost $4.9 million. We didn't wait for permission. We stood our ground. We took the height.
When I lost 38 pounds for the Dallas Buyers Club, I started every morning by going to the mirror and saying, “Damn it, McConaughey, you look like a damned reptile.” I weighed 135 pounds.
When I lost 38 pounds for the Dallas Buyers Club, I started every morning by going to the mirror and saying, “Damn it, McConaughey, you look like a damned reptile.” I weighed 135 pounds.
"Dallas Buyers Club"
“I was remembered because they forgot about me.
I stopped being a type.
it's time to transform ”
I stopped being a type.
it's time to transform ”
Ix
Two years later, my anonymity spurred a creative impulse. Casting Matthew McConaughey to play the defense lawyer in The Lincoln Lawyer is a great idea. Giving Matthew the lead role in Killer Joe is an innovative idea.
Richard Linklater invited me to star in Bernie. Lee Daniels offered the lead role in The Paperboy. Jeff Nichols wrote the screenplay for Mud for me. Steven Soderbergh landed a role in Magic Mike.
Richard Linklater invited me to star in Bernie. Lee Daniels offered the lead role in The Paperboy. Jeff Nichols wrote the screenplay for Mud for me. Steven Soderbergh landed a role in Magic Mike.
Second wind
It's been twenty months since I started rejecting all the typecast roles I had in Hollywood. I have deprived the film industry and the audience of their usual roles. I didn't appear in public.
I sat at home with Camila, raised Levy and Vida, gardened, wrote, prayed, visited old friends and came to my senses. Out of sight, out of mind. It seemed like they forgot about me.
I sat at home with Camila, raised Levy and Vida, gardened, wrote, prayed, visited old friends and came to my senses. Out of sight, out of mind. It seemed like they forgot about me.
"The Lincoln Lawyer"
[2011]
[2011]
"Dallas Buyers Club"
[2007]
[2007]
Carefully,
long
chapter!
long
chapter!
I liked playing roles. I liked to create. I liked to get into the character, then to get out of it. I liked to dive deep into the role in order to understand the character from the inside. I noticed that the roles I played felt more believable than myself and my own life.
Detective Rustin Cole
For me, he was the best detective in the world.
I frantically flipped through the pages to quickly find out what he had to say next. Cole, the island man, is in awe of death and at the same time yearns for the release it brings. He tirelessly seeks the truth, no matter how bitter it may be. I trembled and broke out in a cold sweat at the thought of this character.
I frantically flipped through the pages to quickly find out what he had to say next. Cole, the island man, is in awe of death and at the same time yearns for the release it brings. He tirelessly seeks the truth, no matter how bitter it may be. I trembled and broke out in a cold sweat at the thought of this character.
I was no longer an animator, I was an actor. Artist. And it satisfied me. I lived my career. Furious. Unbridled. Uncommon. Stormy. In acting, I laughed louder, cried harder, loved harder, despised deeper, and felt more than I ever felt in my life.
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"The Lincoln Lawyer"
"Mud"
"True Detective"
"Gold"
"The Gentlemen"
"The Lincoln Lawyer"
"Mud"
"True Detective"
"Gold"
"The Gentlemen"
[2007]
[2011]
[2012]
[2012]
[2016]
[2019]
[2011]
[2012]
[2012]
[2016]
[2019]
Career Peak
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"The Lincoln Lawyer"
"Mud"
"True Detective"
"Gold"
«Джентельмены»
A few days later, after considering my unexpected request, Nick Pizzolato, director Cary Joji Fukunaga, and the producers cast me as Rustin Cole. My old friend Woody Harrelson agreed to play Marty Hart.
"True Detective"
I was offered one of the main roles in the True Detective series on HBO. The script was so alive and believable that the pages almost bled. I was offered the role of Martin Hart, but I wanted to play Rustin Cole.
- If you give me the role of Rustin Cole, I agree.
- If you give me the role of Rustin Cole, I agree.
I am an optimist by nature and consider humor one of the main mentors in life. With the help of humor, I overcame pain, loss and distrust. I get into some shit all the time, but I understand where I got into. I learned to scrape the dirt off my boots and move on.
"Sometimes everything goes according to plan,
and sometimes not. And that's part of the plan too."
and sometimes not. And that's part of the plan too."
x
10 rules
of life
of life
I would like to take it as the latter.
Every movie that I make
I love to open the fridge on a Sunday night and sweep everything out of it, and then make some delicious mess out of it all.
I'm a cook-utilizer
But I have a notebook from every film made and from every big trip.
I don't keep a diary
Sit down and write. Do you want to be a director? Get something on your fucking phone right now.
Do you want to be a writer?
Take care of the flowers instead of chasing butterflies, and then the butterflies will fly to you on their own. That's how life works.
Take care of your garden
I love walking with children. The road that you have walked a hundred times, they are able to make a new one for you. My life suddenly became more interesting than my work.
I like being a father
When he called me to "A Time to Kill." I used to be told “no” a hundred times a day, and then all of a sudden I got even something that I didn’t ask for.
Joel Schumacher changed my life
Because I realized that most lawyers know perfectly well that the defendant they acquitted was guilty.
I didn't become a lawyer
I got a job there as a legal assistant. I liked this country and this desert, and I also learned from the Australians a special skill: not to let others fill your head with any bullshit.
1 year lived in Australia
In the port, as a bank clerk, as a carpenter, and I also packed peas on the farm.
11 jobs in life
Rules of Life Matthew McConaughey
“We ourselves are the authors of the story of our life, which will later become a mourning speech at our funeral”
P.s.
Thank you to my parents and brothers for giving me a family, my wife and children for creating my own family, and thanks to the countless characters, inspirations, and ideals that I have met along the way.
Thanks to my heroes, from Pat and Mellencamp to myself ten years later, and to all those who gave me the poems I wrote, forgetting who wrote them.
Thanks to my friends like Seth Robbins Bindler for daring to lead the way;
Australia for loneliness
Don Phillips for the vision,
Richard Linklater for providence
Cole Hauser for individuality,
Gus for loyalty
Kevin Morris for the absolute
To Mark Gastos for faith,
Mark Norby for simplicity,
John Cheney for a firm hand,
Nicole Perez-Kruger for correctness,
Blaine Lourdes for the extra zeros,
Miss Hud for affection
Isse Ballo for pointing out the path,
Mali for the house
brother Christian for humanity,
Penny Allen for rage
Pastor Dave for the context
Jordan Peterson for clarity
Chad Mountain for listening
Dan Buettner for adventures
Roy Spence for the goal
Nick Pizzolato for honesty
Al Kogol for ideas,
Liz Lambert for the desert
Bart Nuggs for the Llano River,
David Drake, Gillian Blake and Matt Inman for editing
and to WME, Crown/Penguin, Random House, and Headline for helping me get my story down on paper.
Thanks to my heroes, from Pat and Mellencamp to myself ten years later, and to all those who gave me the poems I wrote, forgetting who wrote them.
Thanks to my friends like Seth Robbins Bindler for daring to lead the way;
Australia for loneliness
Don Phillips for the vision,
Richard Linklater for providence
Cole Hauser for individuality,
Gus for loyalty
Kevin Morris for the absolute
To Mark Gastos for faith,
Mark Norby for simplicity,
John Cheney for a firm hand,
Nicole Perez-Kruger for correctness,
Blaine Lourdes for the extra zeros,
Miss Hud for affection
Isse Ballo for pointing out the path,
Mali for the house
brother Christian for humanity,
Penny Allen for rage
Pastor Dave for the context
Jordan Peterson for clarity
Chad Mountain for listening
Dan Buettner for adventures
Roy Spence for the goal
Nick Pizzolato for honesty
Al Kogol for ideas,
Liz Lambert for the desert
Bart Nuggs for the Llano River,
David Drake, Gillian Blake and Matt Inman for editing
and to WME, Crown/Penguin, Random House, and Headline for helping me get my story down on paper.
Materials taken from open sources
The project was created for non-commercial purposes,
as part of the typography course by Sergey Telidchenko
The project was created for non-commercial purposes,
as part of the typography course by Sergey Telidchenko
