What the McConaissance tells us about acting

Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club (Jean-Marc Vallée, 2013)

We all have a great deal to learn from Matthew McConaughey, not just in terms of acting, but how to look at actors in new ways. Along with the rest of America, I’ve become interested in Matthew McConaughey and his recent string of roles, which have showed off a greater depth than anyone would have realized based on his previous work. Happy as I am that Mr. McConaughey has revived his career and taken it in a new direction, this event also gives me a good excuse to talk about some things that interest me about McConaughey and actors in general. Actors bring a certain amount of weight to a movie, and not just in terms of skill. They also bring their unique personas and even carry the ghosts of their other roles with them from film to film.