Matthew McConaughey has joined Tim McGraw on Beyond the Influence Radio on Apple Music Country to talk about the influence each of their fathers had on their lives, the different motivations they each took with them when becoming parents. Matthew reveals the personal significance behind his desire to become a father and the realisation he had about what ultimately makes a parent feel happy and fulfilled. He also talks about becoming ‘un-branded’ in Hollywood. Listen to the full interview on-demand here.
Tim McGraw on his song “Live Like You Were Dying”.
“Live Like You Were Dying was one of those songs that came at a very traumatic time in my life. It showed up and was sent to me in the middle of my father’s diagnosis of glioblastoma brain cancer and going through all of his treatments. He stayed at my cabin out at the farm and we were spending a lot of nights out there with my uncle and my brother just hanging out, listening to music, and watching football games. We spent a couple of weeks there before he passed away in the bedroom there in the cabin. During that time, I had been listening to Live Like You Were Dying, the demo, and knowing I was going to record it. I never played it for him because I just didn’t… I just felt like it maybe wasn’t the right thing to do. In fact, I almost didn’t record the song because I certainly didn’t want anyone to think that I was playing to what was going on with my father. But the more I thought about it, certainly after Tug died, the more I thought that, man, knowing Tug and knowing that this song had a lot to do with his struggle and my view of his struggle, I think that he would be somewhere up, hopefully, up in heaven, he’d be smiling down, and slapping his glove on his leg, and ready to come out to the mound, and to hear the roar of the crowd because this song was about him. So I’m sure that he would love it. We recorded this song in Upstate New York. About three o’clock in the morning, my Uncle Hank was there, my dad’s older brother, and we had been recording all day. And about three o’clock in the morning, I looked around at the band. I said, “I think it’s time to do this song.” We spent the next three hours up until sun up recording this song and my uncle collapsed in a couch crying every time we did a pass of it. That’s got to be one of the most special memories I have of making any music anywhere.”
Matthew McConaughey on what makes a parent truly happy.
“If we stayed on that path and became lawyers, we would have probably done all right and been decent lawyers. Our parents would have been happy. But what makes a parent really happy? When their child comes to them and they don’t come bluffing. They don’t come really asking for permission. They say, “I’m going to go my own path.” Then as a parent you’re like, “Yes, that’s what I was hoping you would one day do is go, ‘Thank you mom. I love you. Thank you dad. Love you.'” When I asked my dad and told him I wanted to… I was asking him in a question form, but I didn’t really ask him.I said, “I want to go to film school, not law school.” He goes, “You sure that’s what you want to do?” I said, “Yes, sir.” How quickly I said “Yes, sir,” he could tell that I wasn’t bluffing. He could tell I wasn’t asking permission. Then he goes, “Well, don’t half ass it.” That was a kick in the rear end. He gave me responsibility, approval, privilege, freedom, and gave me something to go, “Ho, ho, here we go. We better do this one well.”
Matthew McConaughey on how he knew he wanted to be a father.
“For me, it was the motivation to continue, but hopefully be able to maybe evolve and improve it. It was when I was eight years old is when it hit me. I wanted to be a father. I remember what it was. My dad was a “sirs”, and “ma’ams” and “please” and “thank you” man, and he would introduce me to his friends. I’m eight years old looking up to them and shaking their hands saying, “Nice to meet you, sir. Nice to meet you, sir. Nice to meet you, sir.” At that moment, I had already shaken many of his friends hands through years, but at that moment in 0my eight year old mind, what went through my mind is, “Oh, the common denominator about all these men that I’m saying ‘sir’ to is that they’re fathers. That’s why they’re a ‘sir’.” I remember in my eight year old mind going, “That’s when you’ve made it. That’s when you become a sir. That’s what success is.” It hit me then, and it’s never left me as the paramount example of what being a sir or being the greatest success you can be as a man.”
Matthew McConaughey on how he unbranded himself.
“They started at an $8 million offer. I said no. They started $10 million. I say no. They go to $12.5, I said, “No, thank you.” They go to $14.5, I said, “Let me read that script again.” It was the same words, but I was like… Let me tell you, at $14.5 million, it was the same words as the $8 million offer, but it was a more well-written script, sir. It was a funny script. It had more. But I said no. Now when I said no to that, I do believe that sort an invisible lightening bolt went across Hollywood and they go, “Oh, McConaughey is not bluffing. He ain’t kidding.” Then everything stopped. Nothing came in. For another 14-15 months, nothing came in. I’m starting to go, “All right, maybe I had my run in Hollywood. Maybe I’m going to go be an orchestra conductor, or a high school football coach. I find maybe another job.” As soon as, and this is one of those serendipities you talk about timing, as soon as I was spiritually sound with I may not go back to Hollywood, I’m going to do something else maybe in my life, I didn’t need it. I wasn’t’ looking like, “Am I ever?” Ring, guess who’s a new good idea for Lincoln Lawyer, for Killer Joe, for Magic Mike, for Mud, for True Detective, for Dallas Buyer’s Club? I was, because I found anonymity in those two years. I unbranded, and no one knew where I was. By not being around they were like, “You know who’s a bright new idea? McConaughey for this.” Then when they came, I jumped on it.”
Matthew McConaughey on his career in rom-com movies.
“Now we get to I’m successful at rom-coms. I’m the go-to guy at rom-coms. I’m living in a pad in Malibu surfing on the beach shirtless. I’m shirtless rom-com McConaughey and I’m like, “You damn right I am, those rom-coms are paying for these houses that I’m renting on the beach, baby. Guilty. Come on.” I’m as fully happy with that. At the same time, I started to feel like every rom-com script I did I go, “Oh, that’s a good one. I think I can do that tomorrow morning.” Then I was like, “Well, I’m glad you feel like you could do that tomorrow morning, but-” I was like, I want to be scared. I want to look at something and go, “Oh, I don’t know what I’m going to do with that.” I want to dive in a pool and trust I’ll come up to the other side than take the journey and come up bloody.”
Matthew McConaughey on traveling for the creative mind.
“Let’s memory catch up, puts some demarcations between events in our past. You and I are good at going out, hey hit the road, autopilot, come out the other end. I remember what this last three-month tour was when I’m on the other side of it. You look back, and I’m happy to say, “Hey man, pretty good job.” It all starts to overlap. We get busy. We do the same thing. We get a ritual, and we do it. It becomes sort of staccato. What travel does is you bounce out and all of a sudden you get to look at it, and you get to read the legato. You get to get the big machinations of how the movements were. “Wait a minute, where am I in my life?” I’m leaving what I know to find what I maybe need to know. It’s changing the channel. It opens the aperture to a different light. You actually get objective and look back at what you did in a way that you cannot see when you’re subjectively in it hammering the road every day. So, you get a second perspective. Sometimes you go, “I did exactly what I wanted to do.” Most times I go, “Eh, well what I wanted to do and what I intended to do actually is not quite what I did, but hey hopefully it’s close enough.”
