Matthew McConaughey returns to dramatic fare with 'Lincoln Lawyer'
winnipegfreepress.com
03/15/2011 - TORONTO - Long before making a name for himself as a Hollywood heart-throb equally adept at playing the romantic lead and dramatic hero, Matthew McConaughey toyed with the idea of becoming a criminal defence lawyer.
The notion lasted long enough for him to pursue a law internship in Australia after high school, but that in turn only instilled a passable Down Under accent the young Texan put to judicious use when he returned to the United States — by pretending to be Australian for more than a year.
"I kept it when I needed it," McConaughey says of his Aussie accent while chuckling.
"It was definitely two years later that I had some guys come up and go, 'Dude, you're not from Australia?' And I was like, 'No.' They're like, 'But I saw you six months ago, you were talking like that.' I was like, 'I was just putting you on!'"
It should be no surprise then that McConaughey has managed to entrench himself as Hollywood's go-to guy when it comes to playing the irresistible scoundrel.
The past decade of his career is dominated by turns as a smug rogue in romantic comedies including "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," "Fool's Gold," "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," and "Failure to Launch."
You'd be forgiven for forgetting that the Dolce & Gabbana model — also notorious for getting arrested in 1999 while playing bongos in the nude in his Austin, Texas home — used to be known for dramas, thanks to serious roles in "A Time to Kill," "Contact" and "Amistad."
This weekend, McConaughey reminds us of his more sombre chops with the straight-up legal thriller, "Lincoln Lawyer," based on the Michael Connelly bestseller. He stars as L.A. defence lawyer Mick Haller, a streetwise player who works out of the backseat of a chauffeured Lincoln Continental.
Mick makes his living by cutting backroom deals for petty criminals and believes he's hit the jackpot when he gets the chance to defend a wealthy playboy (played by Ryan Phillippe) accused of rape and murder. The case turns out to be far more complicated than Mick anticipated, putting his life and the lives of those around him in danger.
"In a good thriller, the enemy of the protagonist is time. And that's (Mick's) main enemy here," says McConaughey, dressed in a dark suit jacket with his hair slicked back.
"Mick has to have so many balls in the air, so many different scenarios that he's put together happening simultaneously."
McConaughey says the taut mystery is something of a throwback to slow-build legal thrillers, drawing analogies to Paul Newman's '80s classic, "The Verdict."
"You don't see many movies like this made any more," he says, while insisting it's still a very modern film. "I think it has that sort of very current, pulp, slick, city feel to it."
McConaughey's more recent dramatic attempts, including "We Are Marshall" in 2006 and "Two for the Money" in 2005, earned poor to middling reviews.
He says he'd been searching for a serious comeback role for a while.
"I was looking for the right one, and for it to be the right time," says McConaughey, who shares the screen here with Marisa Tomei, William H. Macy, Josh Lucas and John Leguizamo.
"I had seen this script about four years earlier and it needed some work and it came back around, thankfully. And it had been worked on and I read it and I was like, 'That's exactly what I'm looking for now.'"
It didn't hurt that the role recalled the actor's early career ambitions at the University of Texas. The 41-year-old notes he was on track to becoming a criminal defence lawyer until the moment he had to commit to the lengthy program.
"I just woke up one morning and said, 'You know what, I don't want to go to school for something and get out when I'm 28,'" says McConaughey.
"It was down to the last minute where if I was going to change my direction (I thought) I better do it now or all my credits were going to be for naught. So I changed them and went to film school."
"Lincoln Lawyer" opens in theatres Friday. |
