The Best Of Matthew McConaughey
FREE STATE OF JONES tells the incredible true story of Newton Knight, played by Matthew McConaughey and his rebellion against the Confederacy in Jones County, Mississippi, during the American Civil War.
To celebrate its arrival, we take a look at the career highlights of one of Hollywood’s most versatile actors.
Killer Joe (2011)
Killer Joe is a Southern Gothic crime released in 2011. Taking on the titular role of Killer Joe, McConaughey plays a cop come killer-for-hire in West Texas.
22-year-old drug dealer Chris Smith, played by Emile Hirsch, owes money to the local loan shark and hatches a scheme to murder his mother to collect the insurance money.
McConaughey omits an eerie power throughout the entire film and won much acclaim for this standout performance that kick started the “McConaissance”.
Magic Mike (2012)
Now this is one of McConaughey’s more out there performances. The film focuses around Mike Lane who is a thirty-year old living in Tampa, Florida. By day, he’ a roofer but by night he is known as Magic Mike, the star attraction of the Kings of Tampa, a group of male strippers working at Xquisite, a male strip club owned and operated by Dallas, Matthew McConaughey.
Having accepted the role in ten minutes over the phone, McConaughey was seen as a shoe-in at the 2013 Academy Award. Unfortunately, this did not come to pass and many saw the oversight as a snub.
Mud (2012)
Mud is a 2012 American coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Jeff Nichols.
One-day 14-year-old Ellis and best friend Neckbone discover a man living in an upturned motorboat on the top of a tree in an island on the Mississippi River. Discovering the man, played by McConaughey is wanted for murder Ellis and Neckbone make a deal with Mud to try and bring him and Juniper together again. But when Ellis meets Mud’s stepfather Tom, he begins to have a different opinion about Mud and Junipers relationship.
Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
Matthew McConaughey won both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for his powerhouse performance in Dallas Buyers Club.
The year is 1985, in sunny Dallas, where the homophobic electrician and rodeo rider Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) lives. A cocaine user and sex addict, his whole world changes when he is diagnosed with HIV and told he only has thirty days to live.
As part of the experimental AIDS treatment movement, Ron smuggles unapproved pharmaceutical drugs into Texas, establishing the “Dallas Buyers Club”.
Interstellar (2014)
One of McConaughey’s most iconic performances was in Christopher Nolan’s most recent sci-fi epic, Interstellar. In the near future around the American Midwest, an ex-science engineer and pilot, Cooper, played by Matthew McConnaughey, is tied to his farming land with his daughter Murph and son Tom. The Earth is dying, sandstorms are ravaging the crops and the scientists realise that life on earth is nearing its end. One day Cooper with his daughter Murph accidentally stumble upon a NASA base near their home and learns of how NASA plan to try and save the human race.
Tasked with going on the daring mission of finding a new home while Earth decays, Cooper must decide to either stay, or risk never seeing his children again in order to save the human race.
Free State of Jones (2016)
Free State of Jones is an epic drama set during the American Civil War and tells the story of defiant Southern farmer, Newt Knight (Academy Award®-winner Matthew McConaughey), and his extraordinary rebellion against the Confederate States Army. Bringing together an unlikely band of poor white farmers and runaway slaves, Knight launched an uprising that led Jones County, Mississippi, to secede from the Confederacy, creating a Free State of Jones. Directed by Gary Ross (Seabiscuit, Pleasantville) and starring Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Belle) and Mahershala Ali (House of Cards).
Free State of Jones will be released in UK cinemas on September 30th 2016.
