1 00:00:01,400 --> 00:00:03,559 Speaker 1: Today on the bright side, we're talking to the king 2 00:00:03,720 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: of reinvention. Matthew McConaughey is here spilling some truths you 3 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:10,400 Speaker 1: haven't heard before, like what's hiding in his vault of 4 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: unreleased screenplays and what really happened in that Titanic audition. 5 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: Plus we'll dig into his new book and learn how 6 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:19,239 Speaker 1: writing keeps him grounded. 7 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:21,319 Speaker 2: I think part of the reason that I wanted to 8 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 2: write in the first place and put it into books was 9 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:26,080 Speaker 2: that was really turned on by the challenge of Okay, 10 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:30,000 Speaker 2: I can go perform script someone else wrote, someone else direct, 11 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 2: someone else lensed in the camera, someone else edited. What 12 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 2: if I can the words? Can I put words? Is 13 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 2: it possible put words on a page without my performance 14 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:42,440 Speaker 2: that can paign a picture that someone goes, Oh, I 15 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:45,239 Speaker 2: see myself in that character. I'm there, I know that 16 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 2: place similar in my own mind. That was the challenge 17 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 2: that I was testing myself on. 18 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:52,640 Speaker 1: I'm simone voice, And this is the bright side from 19 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: Hello Sunshine. Matthew McConaughey has built a career on unforgettable performances, 20 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: but in our conversation today, I realize that some of 21 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: his truest work has actually happened on the page. Writing 22 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: has been part of his life since he was a kid, 23 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:13,319 Speaker 1: and it's carried him through moments when he felt steady 24 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 1: and moments when he felt completely lost. From his decision 25 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: to walk away from romantic comedies to becoming a best 26 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: selling author, McConaughey has mastered writing his own story, and 27 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 1: what struck me most is the way that he weaves faith, integrity, 28 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: and risk into everything he does, and how willing he 29 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: is to embrace the uncertainty that comes with all of it. 30 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: His new book, Poems and Prayers offers an intimate glimpse 31 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: into the raw in between spaces between the big milestones 32 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:45,720 Speaker 1: that have made him the father, husband, and superstar that 33 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: he is today. So let's get into it. Matthew McConaughey, 34 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 1: Welcome to the bright Side. 35 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 2: Good to see you some mom. 36 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:55,800 Speaker 1: There are so many things I would love to talk 37 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 1: to you about because you have such a fascinating career 38 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 1: in life, but I think I want to really arrow 39 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: in on how writing has influenced your life, because even 40 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:06,720 Speaker 1: though you've built this celebrated career as an actor and 41 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:09,560 Speaker 1: a producer, it seems like writing has kind of been 42 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: at the center of who you are from the beginning. 43 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: Like I read that you started writing when you were twelve. 44 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:18,639 Speaker 1: How did writing expand your world at that point? 45 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 2: I think from you know that early on, up until 46 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:25,920 Speaker 2: I was about twenty, writing was a place for me 47 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:30,640 Speaker 2: to go with my confusions, with my questions when I 48 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 2: was lost, wobbly looking, as every child is, you know, 49 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 2: they're finding themselves. I was always intrigued with whether I 50 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:43,360 Speaker 2: called it a riddle or whether it just needed a 51 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:46,079 Speaker 2: place to put words down, to get them out of 52 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 2: my head and heart, which felt like, oh, if I 53 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 2: can put them on the page and read them, I 54 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,080 Speaker 2: don't feel like the world's compressing down me. I've gotten 55 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:57,080 Speaker 2: it out of my system. And then I went on 56 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 2: later in life to you know, continue in you to write, 57 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 2: to deal with what's the meaning of life? The big 58 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 2: why questions? Yeah, and then you learn some things and 59 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 2: it gets to be fun to go, oh, now I 60 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 2: can answer how, when, and where. That's a little more relaxing. 61 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 2: But then I also, you know, when we're in those 62 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 2: troubled times, I think we all feel like we're the 63 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 2: center of the universe and we're the only ones that 64 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 2: feel this way, and the world the galaxies, the universes 65 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 2: are all circling around us. Which is it true? Right? 66 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:31,079 Speaker 2: So I was given a gift with a benedicting monk 67 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:33,080 Speaker 2: friend of mine when I went to him in my 68 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 2: early twenties wrestling with a bunch of demons, and I 69 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:40,280 Speaker 2: had a four hour monologue as we walked through the desert. 70 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 2: Then we stopped back at the chap after four hours 71 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 2: and he hadn't said a word. And finally I'm there 72 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 2: and I'm crying and I'm cleaning. It's not up my nose. 73 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:51,839 Speaker 2: Man ready for him to go, Oh, you must pay 74 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 2: your penance, you know, And he didn't say that at all. 75 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 2: He sat there in silence and find I looked up 76 00:03:57,160 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 2: at him, and he looked him in the eyes with 77 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 2: his beautiful my own he goes me too, and I'm like, oh, oh, 78 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 2: thank you. And that's when I was like, oh, you 79 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:11,960 Speaker 2: know what, this thing, we're all going through it in 80 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 2: different ways. It's all personal to each of us. But 81 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:17,479 Speaker 2: that's just called life, and we're all trying to figure 82 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 2: stuff out and have less pain and more pleasure at 83 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 2: the same time hold ourselves accountable. And that's the cycle 84 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:25,479 Speaker 2: of life. And to know that everyone was a part 85 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 2: of it at that time. Is something I think that 86 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:31,240 Speaker 2: is a bit of amnesty for each one of us. 87 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: You know absolutely. In your new book Poems and Prayers, 88 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: you have a poem from when you were eighteen, early 89 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:45,119 Speaker 1: twenties living in Australia, actually strongly considering becoming a monk. 90 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 1: Like you said, what were those core beliefs you had 91 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:53,360 Speaker 1: at eighteen that you were wrestling with on the page? 92 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 2: Well, at that time I was very lost, wildly and looking. 93 00:04:57,640 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 2: Had just come out of high school, and in my mind, 94 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 2: family at eighteen, you had freedom, which means hey, I 95 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 2: had made my grades. Mom and Dad were happy. My 96 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 2: car was paid for, I had a job, I had 97 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:09,600 Speaker 2: cash in my pocket. I had a girlfriend and I 98 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:11,600 Speaker 2: had golf clubs. I had a four handicap, I had 99 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 2: no curfew. I was rolling. You were cool, du it 100 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 2: was happening. Let's go Yeah, And I go to Australia 101 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:20,040 Speaker 2: only exchange program. And I was supposed to be living 102 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:23,680 Speaker 2: with this family on the outskirts of Sydney. It was 103 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 2: not the outskirts of Sydney. It was three hours away 104 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 2: in this little town of Warnerville, population three zero five. 105 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:34,120 Speaker 2: And my rolling life came to a screaching halt. I 106 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 2: didn't have my car, I didn't have a girlfriend, I 107 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 2: didn't have a golf club, and I did have a curfew. 108 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 2: And this family I was with, I felt like I 109 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 2: was being a bit coveted. It felt like a bit 110 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:50,479 Speaker 2: of an ornament. And I didn't have my friends, and 111 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:53,159 Speaker 2: I didn't have my family, and I didn't have anyone 112 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:55,560 Speaker 2: to bounce anything off of. So I began having the 113 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:59,040 Speaker 2: soocratic dialogue with myself. I would write fourteen page letters 114 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:03,440 Speaker 2: to myself and then return them a fifteen pager to 115 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:06,440 Speaker 2: answer to myself. I mean, I don't wish it on anyone, 116 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:08,919 Speaker 2: but it was also, in hindsight, a very healthy thing 117 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 2: because I was forced to be introspective. I'd left home 118 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:15,280 Speaker 2: for the first time, and you know, when you leave home, 119 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,279 Speaker 2: you get an objective view back at your life and 120 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 2: you see things that you didn't see when you were 121 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 2: the subject of it. I was calling bullshit on things, 122 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 2: calling bullshit on myself, on the world, the way people 123 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,760 Speaker 2: treated each other, what was expected, what we were rewarded for. 124 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 2: And so I wrote that poem, and you know, when 125 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 2: I reread it, I could see I was very self 126 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 2: serious and I was very concerned with the ways of 127 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:42,960 Speaker 2: the world and myself in it. But I also see 128 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:44,920 Speaker 2: that I was like, you gave it. Damn you weren't 129 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:45,479 Speaker 2: just coasting. 130 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: So I read your book Green Lights, and I've also 131 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: read this one. I want to know if you think 132 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:54,720 Speaker 1: that this assessment is accurate. Green Lights seems like the stories, 133 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:57,839 Speaker 1: the core memories that really defined you, and then this 134 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:01,599 Speaker 1: book feels like the poems, the the songs, the little 135 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:05,920 Speaker 1: scribbles in your journal that happened in between those moments. 136 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 2: Yes, a lot of what's in this point in Prayers 137 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 2: are what sort of realigned me as I approached and 138 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 2: took chances and risk and made choices that I made 139 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:19,240 Speaker 2: that I share in Greenlights. Perspectives of the man I 140 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:22,640 Speaker 2: wanted to be was coming up short, being some guilts 141 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:28,400 Speaker 2: and shames that turned into forgiving and grace and a 142 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 2: laugh sometimes where I let myself off the hook because 143 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 2: I needed to just go hey, man, you're human. Sometimes 144 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 2: where I was like, no, man, buck stops here. I'm 145 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 2: tired of you being a repeat offender and making excuses 146 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:42,600 Speaker 2: for the same damn thing you keep missing your aim on. 147 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 2: I'm not putting it up with it anymore. Times where 148 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:48,800 Speaker 2: I relied too much on fate, took my hands off 149 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:52,040 Speaker 2: the wheel. Times where I was agnostic and just tab 150 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 2: my hands on the wheel and go. It's all about 151 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 2: self reliance. That's all life's about. It has nothing to 152 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 2: do with fate. We're all fully responsible for who we are. Well, 153 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 2: what I'm understanding where I think the truth is, is 154 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 2: that they're not contradictory my agnostic years where I went 155 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:09,120 Speaker 2: off and did not believe in God and do not 156 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,400 Speaker 2: rely on fate at all. My feeling was when I 157 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:15,000 Speaker 2: came back two years later to my faith that God 158 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:18,560 Speaker 2: was going, thank you for trying, Thank you for having 159 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:21,240 Speaker 2: the belief that you could handle it all. Need more 160 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 2: like that. And I'm just finding that I think that 161 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 2: they're not contradictory, you know, seraph alliance and faith that 162 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:30,280 Speaker 2: if you're a believer as I am, that God wants 163 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 2: our hands on the wheel. 164 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:33,840 Speaker 1: Seems to me the magic of life is in the trying. 165 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 2: I think. So, I mean, just at least, bottom line, 166 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:40,719 Speaker 2: you give a damn Yeah. Yeah, And I don't think 167 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:43,480 Speaker 2: that's asking too much. I don't think that's too earnest. 168 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 2: My children told me something the other day, is there 169 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:48,640 Speaker 2: is there something going on right now in a generation 170 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,839 Speaker 2: that is against anything earnest or. 171 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:55,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well, what I'm hearing is that gen 172 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,560 Speaker 1: Z and younger have this perpetual fear of being cringe. 173 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:03,920 Speaker 1: And to me, cringe is the fear of being seen 174 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:07,560 Speaker 1: as trying, being seen in the effort of doing. 175 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:09,959 Speaker 2: Something grave okay. 176 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:11,920 Speaker 1: Like they find it embarrassing. And of course that's a 177 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 1: sweeping generalization, but I think the secret is really everything 178 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:19,079 Speaker 1: you want is on the other side of cringe. You 179 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 1: got to put yourself out there. 180 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 2: I do see some of that. I think chasing ideals, 181 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:26,280 Speaker 2: chasing your better self. Given a damn about how you 182 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 2: treat others, how they treat you, how much you can 183 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:30,960 Speaker 2: believe in others, how much you can believe in yourself. 184 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 2: What are we doing here? Doesn't it all mean something? 185 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:35,160 Speaker 2: I'm not ready to say it doesn't mean anything, And hell, 186 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:37,960 Speaker 2: even if it doesn't, why not believe it does? Jeez, 187 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:40,600 Speaker 2: the rewards are that much greater. I don't think that 188 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:42,400 Speaker 2: is something that's ever going to go out of style 189 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:46,480 Speaker 2: or should, and I don't know. I hear a lot 190 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:51,600 Speaker 2: of young people looking for a compass, looking for a 191 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:56,400 Speaker 2: north star to aspire to be to go. Life's not 192 00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:58,920 Speaker 2: just revolutions. I don't want to just go in circles, 193 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:02,000 Speaker 2: I said, on the other side of cringe. I'll give 194 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,000 Speaker 2: you a couple examples. You know where I think where 195 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:07,920 Speaker 2: I started writing and how I started to find my 196 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:11,320 Speaker 2: own sense of self. It was in times where and 197 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:13,880 Speaker 2: I remember I was early college. I would be in 198 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:16,439 Speaker 2: the theater watching the movie. I would laugh out loud 199 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:18,960 Speaker 2: at something and no one else in the theater would laugh, 200 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:21,480 Speaker 2: and then the whole theater would laugh, and I'd be like, 201 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:23,480 Speaker 2: I don't think that's funny. I look at the mirror 202 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:25,559 Speaker 2: and go, you weird McCaughey, and I was like, dude, 203 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:29,120 Speaker 2: it doesn't harm anybody. Stick to it. Double down. Or 204 00:10:29,679 --> 00:10:32,680 Speaker 2: I'd go to a funeral and I wouldn't cry, but 205 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:37,160 Speaker 2: the birth of a child or springtime, the beginning of something, 206 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:39,640 Speaker 2: I would weep. People were going like, why are you 207 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:41,800 Speaker 2: crying at birth and not death. I was like, I 208 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:44,120 Speaker 2: don't know, is that weird? And I was like that, no, 209 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 2: stick to it, don't do that. I remember mustering up 210 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:50,719 Speaker 2: the courage to go, don't shy away from that. Those 211 00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:53,160 Speaker 2: are cringe moments for me, and I was like, no, no, 212 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:55,520 Speaker 2: go to the other side. And I think when we 213 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:57,319 Speaker 2: have a cringe moment, if we go, if it doesn't 214 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:00,560 Speaker 2: harm someone or harm ourselves, if we're not a hirant 215 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:04,280 Speaker 2: or a nihilist with it, then believe in that more, 216 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:07,200 Speaker 2: double down on that, triple down on it. 217 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:11,600 Speaker 1: When you look back over your acting career, are there 218 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:14,800 Speaker 1: cringe moves that you made that you can point to 219 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:18,040 Speaker 1: that felt like they were outside of your comfort zone? 220 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:22,280 Speaker 2: Sure? So early on I didn't feel like this is 221 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:23,920 Speaker 2: a cringe move, but I had a lot of people 222 00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:28,240 Speaker 2: around me say you should be cringing. And it was 223 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 2: days confused. And then I did Texas Chainsaw Masker the 224 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:37,520 Speaker 2: Deck's Next Generation, which was this great Carnye horror film 225 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:39,640 Speaker 2: where I got a mechanical leg and d LA and 226 00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:41,120 Speaker 2: then all of a sudden, I do a Time to 227 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:45,840 Speaker 2: Kill big studio movie Warner Brothers, Manna and Texas chain 228 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:48,800 Speaker 2: so much hadn't come out yet, people like, hey, I 229 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:50,520 Speaker 2: don't know if you want that movie coming out. That's 230 00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 2: kind of low grade compared And I remember at that 231 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:57,280 Speaker 2: time even being like, no, man, that's put that out. 232 00:11:57,559 --> 00:11:59,720 Speaker 2: That's fine. That was what I was doing. I mean, 233 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,480 Speaker 2: I don't think we need to protect and so we did. 234 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:05,079 Speaker 2: But I was kind of told maybe it should be 235 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 2: a cringe moment, and I remember going, I don't want 236 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:13,280 Speaker 2: to be that overly conscious about my career to say, hey, 237 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:16,319 Speaker 2: let's not show that one because it wasn't the best 238 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 2: production or maybe not your best performance. And I think 239 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:22,320 Speaker 2: I could be accused of maybe being too open about that. 240 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:25,560 Speaker 2: Through my career, I've been like, hey, man, I did it, 241 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:29,160 Speaker 2: and I've seen things and I'm like, Okay, kind of 242 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:32,280 Speaker 2: a bogey there, mcconne, but I'm like, all right, that's 243 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:33,960 Speaker 2: where I was. It was part of how I got here, 244 00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:36,760 Speaker 2: which I think is something that I was consistent with 245 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:40,200 Speaker 2: in Green Lights. I share a lot of cringe moments. Yeah, 246 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:43,319 Speaker 2: that early on I did have heavy guilt and heavy 247 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:48,040 Speaker 2: shame about But because I saw the cycle was cringe 248 00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:52,640 Speaker 2: moment success or cringe moment humility learned lesson success, I 249 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:54,679 Speaker 2: was like, oh, right, you want to have the cringe moments. 250 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:57,520 Speaker 2: Without the cringe moments, You're just staying in the safe 251 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:01,040 Speaker 2: celle all the time, and we run from that idea 252 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:04,360 Speaker 2: of failure when it should be I think more like, yeah, dude, 253 00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:07,079 Speaker 2: life's more like baseball. If you've got three point fifty. 254 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:09,280 Speaker 2: You're in the Hall of fame. That means you didn't 255 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:12,080 Speaker 2: get on base two out of three times. It's all right. 256 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 1: Without the cringe moments. How do you know who you 257 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:16,760 Speaker 1: really are because you're not operating at the edges of 258 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:21,960 Speaker 1: your abilities and your interests too? How would you know 259 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:25,520 Speaker 1: that maybe that film was a detour from the artistic 260 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:28,439 Speaker 1: persona you were presenting if you didn't actually go out 261 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:29,840 Speaker 1: there and do it exactly. 262 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:33,720 Speaker 2: We don't have the most healthy relationship with what's considered failing. 263 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:36,520 Speaker 2: I think it is it more American, I'm not sure, 264 00:13:36,559 --> 00:13:38,839 Speaker 2: maybe it's worldwide. I know I still work on it 265 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:41,440 Speaker 2: because when things are successful or I'm doing well and 266 00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:44,480 Speaker 2: seem to be in a flow, I'm like, ah, so 267 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:47,240 Speaker 2: this is how it's supposed to be and how it 268 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:51,600 Speaker 2: will always be, and we know that's not true. But 269 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:54,640 Speaker 2: I don't want to get in a safe place, which 270 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:58,679 Speaker 2: can also happen when you've gotten successful, when you have 271 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:01,160 Speaker 2: a family and you want to secure what you have 272 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:02,439 Speaker 2: and you don't want to take you don't want to 273 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:04,839 Speaker 2: put it at risk. And I agree, you don't want 274 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:07,360 Speaker 2: to put certain things that you built at risk at 275 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:10,800 Speaker 2: the same time, I don't want to get dusty and 276 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:13,840 Speaker 2: be like, oh, everything's just safe, just in the safe zone, 277 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:17,200 Speaker 2: like you said, don't test that edge oo. I mean, 278 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:18,520 Speaker 2: because what's the big deal? 279 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:19,040 Speaker 1: Right? 280 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:21,720 Speaker 2: Ultimately, what's the big deal if you miss? Well? 281 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:24,080 Speaker 1: I want to actually ask you about what seems like 282 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:26,200 Speaker 1: a pivotal turning point in your career where you began 283 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:27,600 Speaker 1: to take a lot more risks and you wrote a 284 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:31,680 Speaker 1: poem about it in Poems and Prayers called Goodman, and 285 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:34,040 Speaker 1: the note at the bottom of it says you wrote 286 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 1: this in the late nineties, just before you decided to 287 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:39,680 Speaker 1: stop doing romantic comedies. When you think back to the 288 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:43,720 Speaker 1: feelings behind that decision, what were you hoping people would 289 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:47,200 Speaker 1: see in you that they weren't seeing already. 290 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:49,480 Speaker 2: It was a thing that I needed to share and 291 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:51,840 Speaker 2: see with myself. It was a time in my life 292 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:56,720 Speaker 2: when my life was extremely vital. I met the woman 293 00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:59,080 Speaker 2: I fell in love with, Camilla. She was now pregnant 294 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:03,000 Speaker 2: with our first child. My ceiling in the basement of 295 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 2: my emotions, how much I loved, how much I hated, 296 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:08,080 Speaker 2: how much I cried, how much I would have full 297 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:11,840 Speaker 2: of joy. The ceiling and the basement were very high 298 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:15,240 Speaker 2: and very deep and very wide. In the rom comms, 299 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:19,560 Speaker 2: there's a very much compressed form of emotion. You can't 300 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:22,960 Speaker 2: love too much and you can't get too angry because 301 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 2: you'll sink the ship. You got to bounce from cloud 302 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:29,040 Speaker 2: to cloud. So while my life was extremely vital, I 303 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 2: felt like my work was sort of like, Okay, I'm 304 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:33,800 Speaker 2: good with it, but I'm not able to express and 305 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:38,400 Speaker 2: as much as I'm feeling. And because Hollywood was like, 306 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:41,000 Speaker 2: stay in your lane, McConaughey, you can't. I want to 307 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:43,080 Speaker 2: do dramas, Like you can't do these dramas. I don't 308 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,160 Speaker 2: care how much a pay cut you're offering, just keep 309 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:46,800 Speaker 2: doing the rom comms. I was like, Okay, if I 310 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:48,120 Speaker 2: can't do what I want to do, I'm quit doing 311 00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:51,280 Speaker 2: what I've been doing. So came back down here to Texas. 312 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:54,680 Speaker 2: Camilla was pregnant, which helped me have sort of a 313 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:56,840 Speaker 2: rudder in the water of something to look forward to, 314 00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:00,320 Speaker 2: because all of a sudden I was not getting work, 315 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:02,400 Speaker 2: getting offers or anything, and I didn't know how long 316 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:04,960 Speaker 2: I was going to be in that desert of no work. 317 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:06,680 Speaker 1: Was that scary for you at all? 318 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:11,720 Speaker 2: Very scary, very scary? I remember, Okay, I'm gonna need 319 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:13,720 Speaker 2: Where am I going to go for significance? Where I'm 320 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:15,720 Speaker 2: I going to go for accomplishment? What am I doing? 321 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 2: And why is that bottle of my favorite spirit going 322 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:22,080 Speaker 2: to start looking better and better earlier and earlier each day. 323 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 2: You know? So I had Camilla, I had my own spirit. 324 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:29,760 Speaker 2: I had to looking forward to a newborn son, which 325 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 2: kept me in line, and I just said, I'm going 326 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 2: to endure it. But it did get to a point 327 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:36,720 Speaker 2: where I was like, I remember talking to my agent, 328 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:38,600 Speaker 2: Jim Toff, and I'm saying, like, I haven't heard your 329 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:42,920 Speaker 2: name McConaughey in five months. And I was like, I 330 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,360 Speaker 2: might have just wrote myself one way ticket out of Hollywood. 331 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:47,840 Speaker 2: I got to think about other careers. So I'm starting 332 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:49,440 Speaker 2: to go, maybe I need to go back to law school. 333 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:51,600 Speaker 2: Oh I like to be Maybe I'll be a teacher. 334 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:54,320 Speaker 2: I really started to thinking of other vocations. I wasn't 335 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:56,240 Speaker 2: in the theaters in a rom com. I wasn't in 336 00:16:56,280 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 2: your living room in a little rom com. I wasn't 337 00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 2: in People magazine shirtless on a beach. It's like, where 338 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 2: is he? What's he doing? And then abound that time, 339 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:08,800 Speaker 2: I remember, and I think this really helped. I got 340 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:12,800 Speaker 2: an offer for a rom com comedy role and it 341 00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 2: was an eight million dollar offer, and I said, no, 342 00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 2: thank you. They came back at ten million. I said no, 343 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:19,359 Speaker 2: thank you. They came back at twelve million. I said no, 344 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:22,479 Speaker 2: thank you. They came back at fourteen point five million, 345 00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:27,639 Speaker 2: and I said, let me read that script again. And 346 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:29,320 Speaker 2: I went back and read it. It was the same 347 00:17:29,359 --> 00:17:32,040 Speaker 2: pages and same words as in the original offer, but 348 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:34,959 Speaker 2: it was a better script. It was funnier. At that price. 349 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:39,320 Speaker 2: I could see myself in it. Well, maybe it's work. Ultimately, 350 00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:43,640 Speaker 2: I said no thanks, I really feel like turning that down. 351 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:46,720 Speaker 2: That there are some people in Hollywood that go, what's 352 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:47,840 Speaker 2: McConaughey up. 353 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 1: To, man, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's not blushing. 354 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:53,119 Speaker 2: He's up to something, you know what I mean. So 355 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:55,919 Speaker 2: it wasn't all of a sudden McConaughey's just stepped out receding. Now, 356 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:01,240 Speaker 2: McConaughey just turned down fourteen five milk for the script. 357 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:06,159 Speaker 2: That's good and he's up to something. After about twenty months, 358 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:10,239 Speaker 2: I guess I had been out of everyone's eyesight for 359 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:13,320 Speaker 2: long enough that I got became a new good idea 360 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:15,200 Speaker 2: for the dramas that I wanted to do, and those 361 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:19,120 Speaker 2: offers came in and then I just jumped on ferociously. 362 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:21,080 Speaker 2: But it was a scary time. 363 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:29,080 Speaker 1: More from Matthew McConaughey after this quick break. Okay, so 364 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:32,000 Speaker 1: here is my question for you, McConaughey, because I know 365 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:34,439 Speaker 1: you're a writer, and it seems like you're a writer. First, 366 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:38,359 Speaker 1: before performing, I went through your IMDb credits and I 367 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:41,080 Speaker 1: was shocked to find you only have one writing credit 368 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:45,159 Speaker 1: for a screenplay. This is a short film called Rebel 369 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:46,280 Speaker 1: from nineteen ninety eight. 370 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:48,760 Speaker 2: Is that true? 371 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:51,840 Speaker 1: Why have you not written us as screenplay? Do you 372 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: have any secret screenplays that are just collecting dust on 373 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:57,760 Speaker 1: a shelf over there? I do, what's going on with them? 374 00:18:57,840 --> 00:18:58,560 Speaker 1: Tell me about them? 375 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:02,159 Speaker 2: Well? One is about that year in Australia, which is 376 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:06,240 Speaker 2: a black comedy. Another one is a children's fairy tale 377 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:09,800 Speaker 2: about the greatest fisherman the world has never known, called 378 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:14,160 Speaker 2: Curtis My Love, beautiful story. I sit down to try 379 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:17,320 Speaker 2: and put some of these stories into script form, and 380 00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:21,800 Speaker 2: I don't know. I get to about page twelve and 381 00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:26,159 Speaker 2: the format just doesn't feed me. And maybe that's to 382 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:28,280 Speaker 2: come because I think part of the reason that I 383 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:30,040 Speaker 2: wanted to write in the first place and put it 384 00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:32,600 Speaker 2: into books was that was really turned on by the 385 00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 2: challenge of Okay, I can go perform script that someone 386 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:38,800 Speaker 2: else wrote, someone else directed, someone else lensed in the camera, 387 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:41,639 Speaker 2: someone else edited. But what if I can put words? 388 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,919 Speaker 2: Can I put words? Is it possible to put words 389 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:49,080 Speaker 2: on a page without my performance? That can paint a 390 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:52,359 Speaker 2: picture that someone goes, Oh, I see myself in that character. 391 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:54,600 Speaker 2: I'm there, I know that place that's similar in my 392 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:58,240 Speaker 2: own life. That was the challenge that I was testing 393 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:03,320 Speaker 2: myself on. So maybe I'm wanting to secure that, you know, 394 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:08,080 Speaker 2: with more just books before I go okay, cool, to 395 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:10,440 Speaker 2: some extent pulled that off. Now, what if we write 396 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:13,120 Speaker 2: something that I can also go perform? Now away lean 397 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:15,399 Speaker 2: into performing these is when I do the audio books 398 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:17,520 Speaker 2: I am performing, or like this book tour, I'm going 399 00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:21,119 Speaker 2: to go on with musicians and read poems and prayers. 400 00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:23,600 Speaker 2: So there's a bit of a performance, right, And maybe 401 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:25,920 Speaker 2: that's me leaning out to go, Okay, let's take these 402 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:29,640 Speaker 2: into forms of entertainment where I can be performative. 403 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 1: Do you maybe have a bit of an inner critic 404 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:36,080 Speaker 1: that's keeping those screenplays from getting on the screen. 405 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:41,240 Speaker 2: Yeah. Probably, it's probably another confidence barrier that I've yet 406 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:45,679 Speaker 2: to get over. For me, there's sometimes where I'm writing 407 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:47,560 Speaker 2: it's like I don't know is it coming to me? 408 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:49,359 Speaker 2: Or am I coming up. 409 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:50,280 Speaker 1: With it right? 410 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:53,800 Speaker 2: I know that it's not as far from acting as 411 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:57,000 Speaker 2: I thought it was, because I'm inherently playing every single 412 00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:00,040 Speaker 2: character that I'm writing for and their voice because I 413 00:20:59,920 --> 00:21:03,200 Speaker 2: know them, their voice is coming out of my hand. 414 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:06,280 Speaker 2: It's all about if I get the first opening line, 415 00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 2: I can just get that that's it, then the rest 416 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:12,200 Speaker 2: of it will write itself. But sometimes if I wake 417 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:14,919 Speaker 2: up at six am to write, I don't get that 418 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:16,720 Speaker 2: first line. I don't get out of bed until two 419 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,760 Speaker 2: thirty till I get that first line. And soon as 420 00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:21,080 Speaker 2: I got that first line, the rest of it go 421 00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:23,440 Speaker 2: and write itself. 422 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,280 Speaker 1: But why not? Okay, so now we're debating writing tactics. 423 00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:29,520 Speaker 1: But why not move past the opening line and come 424 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:31,919 Speaker 1: back to it because sometimes the opening is in the 425 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:32,840 Speaker 1: middle or the end. 426 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:35,679 Speaker 2: Well, sometimes I have done that. But if I know 427 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:38,680 Speaker 2: I'm a turn of phrase or a word or an 428 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 2: order of alphabet word away and I'm on it. Oh, 429 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:44,479 Speaker 2: I'm just on it. But that's not it. That's not 430 00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:46,680 Speaker 2: the word, that's not it, that's not And as soon 431 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:48,560 Speaker 2: as I can hit it like there it is, there's 432 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:51,919 Speaker 2: the meter. That's the music. And so I write very 433 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:53,919 Speaker 2: musically like that. A lot of the poems are like 434 00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:56,960 Speaker 2: I woke up at two thirty in the morning with 435 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:04,359 Speaker 2: a meter in my head. If you've done at a 436 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:06,320 Speaker 2: time and time and if that sounded so, and then 437 00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 2: I just kind of walked slowly to my laptop in 438 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:12,399 Speaker 2: that meter, don't interrupt me with any other stimulus. And 439 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,399 Speaker 2: then I did that to start writing, and all of 440 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:16,960 Speaker 2: a sudden, I'll go three hours day, I'll look up 441 00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 2: and there'll be twenty pages. I'll be like, oh, let's 442 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:22,080 Speaker 2: have a look, and then go back and look and 443 00:22:22,119 --> 00:22:25,240 Speaker 2: hopefully some of it's salvageable, you know, and edit that back. 444 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:27,840 Speaker 2: And a lot of times it'll come with a musical meter. 445 00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:29,879 Speaker 1: I think all of our brains have, you know, our 446 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:31,600 Speaker 1: own distinct rhythm, and we gotta listen to it and 447 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:34,840 Speaker 1: we gotta follow it. Okay, I'm making a deal with you, Matthew. 448 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:36,960 Speaker 1: The next time we talk, whether it's Out of Red 449 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:39,439 Speaker 1: Carpet or another podcast, or something I want to hear 450 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 1: about these screenplays the world meets Okay, screen Matthew McConaughey 451 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:47,520 Speaker 1: screenplay Okay, yeah, okay. But pivoting now to talk about performing. 452 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:52,399 Speaker 1: I mean, you have gone on to reinvent yourself time 453 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:54,959 Speaker 1: and time again, and it has been such a joy 454 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:57,600 Speaker 1: for us to watch. I mean, some fan favorite characters 455 00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:00,680 Speaker 1: come to mine, mud Ron Woodrowe and Dallas, Buyer's Club, 456 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,760 Speaker 1: Joseph Cooper, An Interstellar, Russ Cole and True Detective. When 457 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:08,480 Speaker 1: is the last time you felt truly seen as a performer? 458 00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:13,200 Speaker 2: Thankfully the last film I did Lost Bus, that comes 459 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,520 Speaker 2: out in September and then October on ALP Plus streaming. 460 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:19,280 Speaker 2: I'm happy to say this, and this is not me 461 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:22,760 Speaker 2: dodging an answer. I'm happy to say this because this 462 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:25,240 Speaker 2: is not always this way, but it has been for 463 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:30,200 Speaker 2: the last twenty years. My favorite role the last twenty 464 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:32,160 Speaker 2: years has always been the last one I did. 465 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:34,080 Speaker 1: Ah. Why is that? 466 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:38,040 Speaker 2: Because hopefully I get to that point and again, thankful 467 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:41,000 Speaker 2: I have in the last twenty years. Each film I'm doing, 468 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:42,560 Speaker 2: I'm like, even if this is the only one I 469 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:45,560 Speaker 2: ever do or the last one I ever do, And 470 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:49,440 Speaker 2: to get that feeling that every performer wants to get. 471 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:53,119 Speaker 2: And again, I get it sometimes early, sometimes you're in production, 472 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:55,359 Speaker 2: sometimes late. It's nice when I get it early. But 473 00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:57,840 Speaker 2: to get that feeling of I'm the only one that 474 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:02,199 Speaker 2: could play this part, it's a beautiful sense of ownership. 475 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:05,120 Speaker 2: You know, whether it's true or not. If it's true 476 00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:07,479 Speaker 2: to the performer, then it's true. But to get to 477 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:11,360 Speaker 2: that point and believe in somebody and believe in yourself 478 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:15,679 Speaker 2: enough to inhabit that character and live it from the 479 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:19,560 Speaker 2: inside out and know them how they listen and see 480 00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:21,600 Speaker 2: and hear and feel from the bottom of their feet 481 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:25,840 Speaker 2: to the top of their hairline is a beautiful feeling. 482 00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:29,199 Speaker 2: It's almost like a vacation, you know, to have a 483 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:34,320 Speaker 2: singular understanding about how someone moves much more than what 484 00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:37,040 Speaker 2: their personal politics are, but how they move, how they listen. 485 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:39,960 Speaker 2: But what are they saying in between the lines? What's 486 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,200 Speaker 2: the subtext? What they mean? Even if it's never said, 487 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:45,600 Speaker 2: and it doesn't always happen, but I'll take extensive notes 488 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:48,280 Speaker 2: on scenes and character and what I'm hoping to get 489 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:50,040 Speaker 2: out of a scene, what I want, what I need, 490 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:52,520 Speaker 2: what the obstacle is, and maybe not one of those 491 00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:55,760 Speaker 2: words is said in the actual scene. But if a 492 00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:58,880 Speaker 2: director or an audience who comes up afterwards and says, oh, 493 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:01,360 Speaker 2: this is what I got that, I'm like, oh, check 494 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:03,360 Speaker 2: out my notes, this is what I wrote four years ago. 495 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:08,239 Speaker 2: That's exactly what that is. Like, oh it translated. You know. 496 00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:11,440 Speaker 1: Well, I've heard you talk about launchpad lines, like if 497 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:14,840 Speaker 1: you can identify this one line of dialogue that holds 498 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:17,879 Speaker 1: a character's DNA, then you can just run with it. 499 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:20,480 Speaker 2: I think that's like that when I was saying that earlier. 500 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:22,000 Speaker 2: If I can come up with that first line, that's 501 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:22,720 Speaker 2: the launch pad. 502 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:25,080 Speaker 1: What do you think is the launchpad line of your 503 00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:25,959 Speaker 1: own life story? 504 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:33,399 Speaker 2: Oh wow, oh oh man, that's that's a big fun question. 505 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:33,840 Speaker 1: I know that. 506 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:36,160 Speaker 2: And I can give the simple one of just keep 507 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:38,560 Speaker 2: living because like what else we're going to do, and 508 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:40,680 Speaker 2: that group makes me in a spot of that life 509 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:42,800 Speaker 2: is a verb, and just stay on the chase. You 510 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:46,760 Speaker 2: never get there. There's no tada moment. There's no summit 511 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:49,919 Speaker 2: that you get to the top of mentally, spiritually, or 512 00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:53,919 Speaker 2: otherwise that you go I did it. You may say that, 513 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:55,760 Speaker 2: but you find out usally quickly you didn't. 514 00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:58,800 Speaker 1: We've got to take a short break, but we'll be 515 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:05,600 Speaker 1: right back with Matthew mccon And we're back with Matthew McConaughey. 516 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:08,800 Speaker 1: I want to ask you about a Matthew McConaughey character 517 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:11,280 Speaker 1: that almost came to be but didn't. This is a 518 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:13,480 Speaker 1: fact check. This is something i've read online to run 519 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:15,000 Speaker 1: by you because I want to go straight to the source. 520 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:18,040 Speaker 1: I read that you turned down the role of Jack 521 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:21,080 Speaker 1: in Titanic because you opted not to change your southern 522 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,119 Speaker 1: accent rumor or true. 523 00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:27,479 Speaker 2: That's rumor. There was never any any discussion about an 524 00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:29,919 Speaker 2: accent or anything. I just didn't get the job. I 525 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:31,880 Speaker 2: did think I had the job. I had a great 526 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:35,200 Speaker 2: read with Kate Winslet and the producers and I think 527 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:38,760 Speaker 2: it was Jim Cameron that's somewhere along the way, and 528 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:42,240 Speaker 2: some pressure said something like yeah, McConaughey had the job, 529 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 2: but whatever didn't take it. I went to him. I 530 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:47,800 Speaker 2: was like, let me know, Jim, I don't remember that 531 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:49,439 Speaker 2: ever happening. I thought I had a job, but I 532 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:51,280 Speaker 2: never got offered that job. Did you say that? And 533 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:54,399 Speaker 2: we got that cleared up, and then I was also like, 534 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:56,919 Speaker 2: because if I did, I need to call my agent 535 00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:00,040 Speaker 2: because they owed me a lot. Did they turn it 536 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:01,960 Speaker 2: down for me? Because no, I never got offered that 537 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:02,920 Speaker 2: to turn it down? 538 00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:06,080 Speaker 1: Now, was that hard to not get that job? Was 539 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:07,760 Speaker 1: that something that you wanted really badly? 540 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:10,080 Speaker 2: I mean I wanted it, but I mean there's plenty 541 00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:12,399 Speaker 2: of jobs out there that I wanted to get that 542 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:15,679 Speaker 2: I didn't get. Plenty. I remember, I thought it was 543 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:18,160 Speaker 2: a good audition, they say to think it was too 544 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:20,680 Speaker 2: good enough that when I left there, I felt pretty 545 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 2: confident that maybe I'd landed it, but I didn't. So 546 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:26,520 Speaker 2: now I think I turned that page pretty quickly. I 547 00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:30,159 Speaker 2: don't think I've had much regret over jobs that I 548 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:35,159 Speaker 2: wanted that I didn't get. They all pinch, Yeah, it 549 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:36,160 Speaker 2: sucks at the time. 550 00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:37,159 Speaker 1: We're all human. 551 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:38,080 Speaker 2: Yeah. 552 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:41,640 Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned when I asked you, what's the role 553 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: as a performer that made you feel the most scene recently? 554 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: And you brought up the Lost Bus And this one 555 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:50,359 Speaker 1: is special because it also stars your mom Kay and 556 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:54,320 Speaker 1: your son LEVI How surreal was that moment on set 557 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:57,680 Speaker 1: realizing there were three generations of McConaughey's in the frame. 558 00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:00,720 Speaker 2: I think I'm still realizing it, and it hit me 559 00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:02,919 Speaker 2: again in a new way because we just went to 560 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:06,560 Speaker 2: Toronto to the Toronto film Thessals the premier it, and 561 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:09,800 Speaker 2: we brought my son, and we flew my mom with us, 562 00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:12,679 Speaker 2: and my mom ninety three and getting her dress and 563 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:16,119 Speaker 2: going to the red carpet and seeing my mom and 564 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:21,080 Speaker 2: my son and the three of us together and whether 565 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:23,360 Speaker 2: it's taking pictures together kind of. I was thrown back 566 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:25,800 Speaker 2: to that memory by going, this is a really special, 567 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:30,520 Speaker 2: cool thing. At the time, I knew it was the 568 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:34,440 Speaker 2: ideal and original situation that doesn't happen all the time. 569 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 2: But I think I'm still realizing how cool that is, 570 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:40,440 Speaker 2: and I think I'll continue to as that movie goes 571 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:43,400 Speaker 2: on to outlive me. 572 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,600 Speaker 1: And then, were you nervous for your son at all? 573 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,160 Speaker 1: As parents, we take on a lot of the emotions 574 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:49,760 Speaker 1: of our kids. 575 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:52,440 Speaker 2: Well, when he asked and yeah, I made a mask. 576 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:54,520 Speaker 2: He came to me four times ask if he could 577 00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:56,920 Speaker 2: read for that part, and it wasn't util after the 578 00:28:56,920 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 2: fourth time. Then I went, all right, you really want to? 579 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:01,640 Speaker 2: And then I said, here we go. Let's sit down 580 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:03,600 Speaker 2: and talk about what this whole acting gig is and 581 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:06,120 Speaker 2: here's his character, what's you want, where's he coming from? 582 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 2: What's a relationship. It's nothing like our relationship that I 583 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:10,920 Speaker 2: have with my son in real life. But do you 584 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:12,920 Speaker 2: know people like this, you ever felt this way? Well, 585 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:14,080 Speaker 2: we had all this, guys, and then I put him 586 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:15,440 Speaker 2: on camera, and when I saw him on camera, I 587 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:18,480 Speaker 2: was like kids holding the frame and he's being honest, 588 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 2: and he's got an ability, he's got some instincts for this. 589 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:26,560 Speaker 2: And then I sent the according to the casting director 590 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:29,560 Speaker 2: I know, and I said, check this out. I think 591 00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:30,880 Speaker 2: it's not bad. I think it may be good enough 592 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 2: for a callback. And she said, actually, I think it's 593 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:34,960 Speaker 2: good enough to send to the director. I said, well, 594 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:36,600 Speaker 2: before you send it the director, can you pull the 595 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:40,280 Speaker 2: last name off of it? So McConaughey names I'm leading right, 596 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:44,280 Speaker 2: Oh interesting, And she did and called back and said 597 00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:47,040 Speaker 2: Paul saw it and said that's the kid, And she said, 598 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:49,000 Speaker 2: I told him, do you know that's Matthew's son. He goes, no, 599 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:51,840 Speaker 2: I didn't even better, and boom he was in. So 600 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:55,520 Speaker 2: with my son. I said, look, once we get there 601 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:57,920 Speaker 2: to the set and all this talk that we're having 602 00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:00,120 Speaker 2: and all this stuff, I'm hopefully trying to teach you, well, 603 00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:03,959 Speaker 2: once it's time to get there, you have to take ownership. 604 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:07,360 Speaker 2: You don't need to be looking to me, it's not 605 00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:10,640 Speaker 2: the time you take ownership. You have to Every actor 606 00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:12,520 Speaker 2: has to do that on the day when it's time. 607 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:15,480 Speaker 2: And I remember going to work that morning together. He 608 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:18,040 Speaker 2: had a whole different vibe about him, kind of had 609 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:21,360 Speaker 2: his shoulder closed to me a little bit and didn't 610 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:24,200 Speaker 2: look at me. Got on the set, full conversations with 611 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:26,880 Speaker 2: the director, not me, what any Hey dad, what do 612 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:29,000 Speaker 2: you think? None of that nothing. And I sat back 613 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:31,880 Speaker 2: as a proud dad watched and I was like, that's 614 00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:34,480 Speaker 2: speaginning of exactly what you need to do right there. 615 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:37,520 Speaker 2: It was a problem moment to see that, see him 616 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:38,440 Speaker 2: take that ownership. 617 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:40,479 Speaker 1: That's so cool. I'm so happy for you and your 618 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:43,800 Speaker 1: family that you got to experience that. That's beautiful. I 619 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:47,320 Speaker 1: want to wrap up by talking about faith with you. 620 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:53,880 Speaker 1: So I am really fascinated by data on faith in America, Matthew. 621 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:56,880 Speaker 1: It's something that I covered a lot as a journalist. 622 00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:01,200 Speaker 1: I would dig into trends surrounding religion and America, and 623 00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:03,640 Speaker 1: so I looked it up just before this interview, and 624 00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:08,960 Speaker 1: there are more religiously unaffiliated gen Zers than previous generations. 625 00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:14,720 Speaker 1: And yet research also shows that spirituality in America is growing. 626 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:18,120 Speaker 1: So it seems like people are reaching for something they 627 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:20,920 Speaker 1: want meaning and they believe in something that's bigger than them, 628 00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:23,920 Speaker 1: but maybe doesn't look as traditional or structured. Is perhaps 629 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:26,240 Speaker 1: I grew up with it. Did you ever go through 630 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:27,600 Speaker 1: periods of doubting your own faith? 631 00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:32,320 Speaker 2: I've had my agnostic years, too long spills when I 632 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:35,760 Speaker 2: say long spills, like for a year or two even. 633 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:37,920 Speaker 2: Part of the reason they've written this book is for 634 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:40,720 Speaker 2: my own personal spiritual therapy. When I said, I caught 635 00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:44,960 Speaker 2: myself being little cynical, so caught myself living in a 636 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:47,560 Speaker 2: little more doubt than I was comfortable with with my 637 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:53,600 Speaker 2: own belief in God. And so writing this book, sharing 638 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:56,480 Speaker 2: this book, touring with it. As much as I'm hoping 639 00:31:56,560 --> 00:31:58,920 Speaker 2: to connect with others or have them help them connect 640 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:03,760 Speaker 2: with themselves, I'm up there to connect with me as well, 641 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:09,520 Speaker 2: because I've been dealing with doubt. Everyone does. And to 642 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:11,560 Speaker 2: shake hands with hey, that's part of the process. Again, 643 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:15,040 Speaker 2: keep trying, don't do a fool's errand but keep trying. 644 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:17,640 Speaker 2: You know one of the things about you know this 645 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:22,520 Speaker 2: spirituality and religion and what the difference is in those two. 646 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:26,160 Speaker 2: As a prescriptionist, I love the origin of words, and 647 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:28,920 Speaker 2: I don't think we should, as they change over time, 648 00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:33,400 Speaker 2: just dismiss them. But religion. The word religion comes from 649 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:40,520 Speaker 2: the Latin root of re and legare re lgare religion. 650 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:49,600 Speaker 2: Legare means to bind together, re means again, to bind 651 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:54,400 Speaker 2: together again. It's a beautiful definition and one I hope 652 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:58,600 Speaker 2: we don't dismiss and throw out just when we say, oh, 653 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:01,280 Speaker 2: I'm not religious. I don't believe in organized religion. I 654 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:05,440 Speaker 2: think we need to be clear people kind. We did 655 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:09,320 Speaker 2: our version of bastardizing the definition of religion. I think 656 00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:12,800 Speaker 2: religion is still pure and something to pursue. I think 657 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,640 Speaker 2: everything I think life's religious, okay, And I think a 658 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:18,560 Speaker 2: lot of people that say they're spiritual are actually religious, 659 00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:21,600 Speaker 2: just don't want to call it that. That's okay, it's 660 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:23,520 Speaker 2: a bridge to get in there. Let's just not throw 661 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:26,000 Speaker 2: the baby out with the bath water and understand that 662 00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:31,600 Speaker 2: we're the ones that made it so exclusive in ways 663 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:34,920 Speaker 2: and made it somewhat of a business in ways. And 664 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:38,400 Speaker 2: I don't think that's what religion was necessarily began about, 665 00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:41,760 Speaker 2: from Muhammad to Jesus. I don't believe that's what it 666 00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:44,520 Speaker 2: was meant to be. We did that. So I'm saying, 667 00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:49,320 Speaker 2: let's take it back to its original traditional meaning. You 668 00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:49,920 Speaker 2: know what I mean. 669 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:54,560 Speaker 1: So acknowledging that you've gone through periods of doubt. Everyone 670 00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:57,520 Speaker 1: goes through periods of doubt. Not everyone comes back to 671 00:33:57,560 --> 00:34:00,720 Speaker 1: their faith after the doubt. What keeps you coming back? 672 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:05,040 Speaker 2: I mean, I've had everything from being alone in a 673 00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:08,719 Speaker 2: desert in the middle of summer without a cloud in 674 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:13,240 Speaker 2: the sky, screaming that I don't believe in you, God, 675 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:16,759 Speaker 2: to all of a sudden a micro storm, lightning bolt 676 00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:19,960 Speaker 2: twenty feet away from me going holy knocking me on 677 00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:24,920 Speaker 2: my ass. I've had natural wonders that shook my floor. 678 00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:31,720 Speaker 2: I've had three newborn You look at a newborn, what's religion? Wow. 679 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:38,920 Speaker 2: I've had silent whispers that I tried to suppress to 680 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:42,319 Speaker 2: keep me from doing things that I actually knew I 681 00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:44,960 Speaker 2: shouldn't do, or helping me do things that I knew 682 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,279 Speaker 2: I should do. It didn't have the courage too, that 683 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:51,440 Speaker 2: I just suppressed, and once I allowed to hear that 684 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:53,920 Speaker 2: truth come in. You know, when the truth settles in, 685 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:57,360 Speaker 2: it's like a butterfly landing and a lightning bolt at 686 00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:01,680 Speaker 2: the same time. And I've I've had quite a few 687 00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:05,840 Speaker 2: times where is in complete solitude without any other stimulus 688 00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:08,840 Speaker 2: from the outside world, where clarity came to me and 689 00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:11,879 Speaker 2: I just was very clear, don't ever forget this truth, 690 00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:14,000 Speaker 2: even when you go back into the masses of the 691 00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:17,840 Speaker 2: busy world you're in, don't ever forget this truth. Now. 692 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:23,520 Speaker 2: Do I know God exists? No? What it's called faith? 693 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:27,839 Speaker 2: Is it a projection of a belief? Yes? Do I 694 00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:33,920 Speaker 2: also know this? Heaven or not? Does a belief in 695 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:37,680 Speaker 2: a God does a pursuit to live more divinely individually 696 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:42,239 Speaker 2: in each of us? Does that help out our situation here? Yes, 697 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:48,800 Speaker 2: it does, Heaven or not? It does so on the 698 00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:53,680 Speaker 2: mystical and spiritual, religious and the purely practical. That's why 699 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:56,399 Speaker 2: I've come back to belief when I've gone through doubt. 700 00:35:57,080 --> 00:36:00,200 Speaker 1: Well, I have absolutely loved talking with you. This has 701 00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:04,239 Speaker 1: been the existential conversation of my dreams. Thank you. I 702 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:07,680 Speaker 1: was hoping that you might be able to read us 703 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:11,640 Speaker 1: a short poem from poems and prayers to take us out. 704 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:17,040 Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, backswing. This is a little spiritual platform, okay, 705 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:18,479 Speaker 2: And it's a little bit what we were just talking 706 00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:24,839 Speaker 2: about in between destruction and existence, paths of persistence and 707 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:30,479 Speaker 2: least resistance, below the climb and above the bow, where 708 00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:35,800 Speaker 2: what it is answers how when running sits still between 709 00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:39,640 Speaker 2: fate and free will, on the other side of a 710 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:45,440 Speaker 2: mortal limit, past the gravity of any inhibit where the 711 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:51,360 Speaker 2: truth Pirouet's unstable feet behind, reaching out ahead of retreat. 712 00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:56,040 Speaker 2: Where our sovereign soul is safe at home, unanimous yet 713 00:36:56,120 --> 00:37:01,319 Speaker 2: still alone, Where the definition of evolution is served as 714 00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:05,400 Speaker 2: such in the solution, when the context of each and 715 00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:09,640 Speaker 2: every choice only hears the sound of our own voice, 716 00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:17,799 Speaker 2: salacious and yet still satisfied, Where desires heed but never hide. 717 00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:21,080 Speaker 2: In the kingdom of suspense and the incomplete, we're not 718 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:25,600 Speaker 2: yet and already finally meet between our getting and our 719 00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:30,160 Speaker 2: give here in the backswing, where we're dying to live. 720 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:34,440 Speaker 1: Yay, thank you so much. 721 00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:36,480 Speaker 2: Welcome. That was fun. 722 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:40,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, so much food for thought today. Matthew McConaughey, thank 723 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:41,840 Speaker 1: you so much for coming on the bright side. 724 00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:44,000 Speaker 2: You're welcome. I thoroughly enjoys moment. 725 00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:51,040 Speaker 1: Matthew McConaughey is an Oscar winning actor and best selling author. 726 00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:55,560 Speaker 1: His latest book, Poems and Prayers, is on sale now. 727 00:37:57,080 --> 00:37:59,520 Speaker 1: The bright Side is a production of Hello Sunshine and 728 00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:03,319 Speaker 1: iHeart and is executive produced by Reese Witherspoon and me 729 00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:07,719 Speaker 1: Simone Boyce. Production is by a Cast Creative Studios. Our 730 00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:12,680 Speaker 1: producers are Taylor Williamson, Adrian Bain, Abby Delk, and Darby Masters. 731 00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:17,840 Speaker 1: Our production assistant is Joya putnoy Acasts executive producers are 732 00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:21,920 Speaker 1: Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Maureen Polo and Reese Witherspoon 733 00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:25,840 Speaker 1: are the executive producers for Hello Sunshine. Ali Perry and 734 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:30,200 Speaker 1: Lauren Hansen are the executive producers for iHeart podcasts. Our 735 00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:33,600 Speaker 1: theme song is by Anna Stump and Hamilton Lighthouser.