If you’d noticed that Matthew McConaughey had been looking rather terrifyingly gaunt recently, this is why. He dropped nearly 50 pounds — and he was pretty slim to start with — to play this AIDS patient. He’s clearly been making a dramatic shift over the past few years to be seen as a serious actor, and it seems to be paying off. This film looks fantastic. Hard to watch, probably, but fantastic (hopefully) nevertheless.
Jared Leto’s making a not-unobtrusive bid for Best Supporting – he’ll be a shoe-in if his character dies! ;)
Seriously, I didn’t realize it was him until his name came up. Loads of damn’ good people all over this.
McConaughey has been doing consistently good work for the past few years (including “Magic Mike,” a film which apparently scared some people away with all that male stripping). I was not previously aware of this film. It looks potentially amazing.
I don’t think it was the stripping that scared people away from *Magic Mike,* but the dull story and uninteresting characters (including McConaughey’s).
But he’s *excellent* in *Mud* and *Bernie.*
Making the skeeve work for him by playing characters who are skeevy but eventually sympathetic — a very smart career move.