In his talk with Glen Powell, Matthew McConaughey acknowledged considering finding a job other than acting during the period when he stepped out of the film industry. “I had long talks with my wife about needing to find a new vocation. ‘I think I’m going to teach high school classes,'” he said. “‘I think I’m going to study to be a conductor. I think I’m going to go be a wildlife guide.'” During his self-imposed hiatus, McConaughey predicted that there was a point of no return for the career he was taking a break from. “I honestly thought, ‘I stepped out of Hollywood. I got out of my lane.’ The lane Hollywood said I should stay in, and Hollywood’s like, ‘Well, f**k you, dude. You should have stayed in your lane. Later.'”
Thankfully, that wasn’t the case, and McConaughey’s ride back to popularity gave us great turns like “Killer Joe,” “Mud,” “Magic Mike,” and “The Dallas Buyers Club” back to back, with “True Detective” in between. But the period before it was clear that his risk paid off was a rough ride, the Oscar-winner acknowledges. “I made up my mind that that’s what I needed to do, so I wasn’t going to pull the parachute and quit the mission I was on. But it was scary, because I didn’t know if I was ever going to get out of the desert.” Now, with credits alongside the likes of Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese, and potentially joining “Yellowstone’s” Sheridanverse, it certainly seems like a mission accomplished.
