Greenlights, The Fun and Adventurous Matthew McConaughey Book that Just Dropped, Is All About ‘Recalibrating’
“I come from a family of storytellers,” McConaughey told Joe Rogan, several sips of whiskey into their podcast interview. Matthew McConaughey wrote his memoir, Greenlights, by spending several sessions of solitary weeks in the desert parsing and consolidating decades of journal entries. This is the first Matthew McConaughey book we’ve ever seen from a well known, academy-award winning actor and producer (now turned author).
Matthew has said about the memoir, “This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” He said that reading other people’s biographies and memoirs inspired him to write his own. Far from being a standard, shallow, Hollywood actor, McConaughey has fought to preserve his intellect, spirit, and sense of individuality and adventure. To this day, he serves as the University of Texas’s Minister of Culture. He also teaches a course at the university called “From Script to Screen,” where he guides aspiring writers and actors through the end-to-end creative process of movie-making. The book is a product of thoughtful reflection and meditation.
McConaughey Discusses His Book, Greenlights and his Nomadic Adventures on Hot Ones
According to his spicy-wings infused interview on Hot Ones, McConaughey had been keeping journals for 36 years, which made up the content of his memoirs. The journals were part spiritual, part storytelling, part high points, and part low points.
McConaughey expounds on his nomadic tendencies, and one particular trip in which he traveled the country in an RV, visiting every state except for North Dakota. He doesn’t see himself as a Hollywood big-shot. Rather, he takes great care to keep his life as normal and as grounded as possible, while still enjoying the benefits of widespread fame.
Matthew McConaughey’s Memoir, Experiences, and Wisdom on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast
In Joe Rogan’s interview with McConaughey, he shares how his dad’s passing formed him to be the man he is today. This life-changing event happened during the shooting of ‘Dazed and Confused’. From his father, he learned the value of physical labor and exercise, how to take accountability for one’s actions, and the importance of delayed gratification. This is something he still instills in his children today.
McConaughey’s memoir reveals that he wanted to be an actor from a young age, but didn’t tell his parents since they had a blue-collar mindset that valued working your way up through a company over the fine arts. He ended following his passion and going to film school, which led to immediate success. McConaughey’s first two auditions led to jobs, and before he knew it, he was making over $300 a day. After becoming an overnight celebrity from ‘Dazed and Confused,’ everyone started to recognize him and say hello as he passed them on the street. McConaughey said he didn’t want to be raised by Hollywood, so he decided to ‘recalibrate,’ instead of immediately jumping into the world of fame.
Matthew spent some time at a monastery to find himself, then took a 22-day trip to the Amazon to be back with nature in a foreign country and in a place where no one would recognize him.
Like any guest on Rogan’s podcast, McConaughey was asked to discuss diet and exercise. Physical exercise is a critical part of his day. He needs it to clear his mind. He talks about how he lost weight for his character in Dallas buyers club by going on a diet of fish and vegetables. Interestingly, he was allowed to drink all the wine he wanted. While on this diet, McConaughey lost weight at a rate of 2.5 lbs per week. His discipline and resolve extended from other parts of his life into his diet, as he basically lived as a hermit. Matthew avoided restaurants and any opportunity to eat fattening food to stay lean for the role.
Conversely, McConaughey bulked up and put on some muscle for Reign of fire, where he played a dragon-slaying warrior in an apocalyptic world. “We McConaughey’s have big triceps,” he told Rogan.
The memoir contains many other stories of his forays in acting, his outlook on fatherhood, and his perspective on Hollywood in general. He discusses how he was sexually molested in his youth, but how he never considers himself a victim. McConaughey’s optimism and adventurous purview on life shines throughout. Check out the book!
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