Matthew McConaughey is an actor of many talents. From his rom-com era roles like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days to his return to acting after a hiatus in much darker movies like Dallas Buyers Club, which earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor, McConaughey has shown range like no other. He even excelled in a leading role in the True Detective series, which got him a nomination for the Emmy Award for Best Leading Actor.
But all of this wouldn't have happened without McConaughey's first-ever role in a feature film - the iconic Dazed and Confused from the acclaimed director Richard Linklater. In fact, the impact of McConaughey's role in the movie was so profound that it would follow the actor for years afterward, but that is not the only way this role of his deserves attention.
McConaughey's Father Died During Filming
One of the lead actors from the movie, Jason London would later say, "We went into the movie a bunch of kids, and we came out a lot more mature. It was the beginning of us becoming adults." And this was particularly true for McConaughey.
The actor had only spent several days filming when he got the news that his father died while having sex with his mother. Allegedly, McConaughey's father would tell his children that that was the way he wanted to go, while making love to his wife.
McConaughey Was Inspired By Music
"Alright, alright, alright." McConaughey is famously known for his iconic line in Dazed and Confused, which he still uses, almost as a catchphrase, today. And Wooderson's famous phrase actually has a story behind it, regarding its origins.
It was a last-minute shoot and the scene where Wooderson appears for the first time was at a fictional hamburger joint called Top Notch. Before filming the scene, McConaughey was listening to a live recording of The Doors, in which Jim Morrison would repeat the word "alright" four times between the songs. This is where the actor got his inspiration and the rest is history.
McConaughey Based His Character Wooderson On His Brother
While Wooderson's trademark line "Alright, alright, alright" was influenced by Jim Morrison, the character himself was actually based on McConaughey's brother, Pat.
When McConaughey was 10, his brother's car broke down and he couldn't get home from school, so McConaughey and his mother drove to pick him up. Pat wasn't waiting for them where he was supposed to, but McConaughey saw him before their mother did. Pat was relaxing in the shadow, and the soon-to-be actor remembered this image so vividly, that he would later base his character on Pat.
McConaughey Used A Phrase From The Movie For His Foundation
Another one of Wooderson's iconic phrases is "Just keep livin'", which McConaughey even used as a motto after filming wrapped.
Moreover, the actor used it to name his JKL Foundation, or the Just Keep Livin' foundation, which helps high school students by providing them with the necessary tools to lead active and healthy lifestyles and influence their future.
McConaughey Was Younger Than Some Of His Co-Stars Though His Character Was The Older One
McConaughey's character, David Wooderson, was the older guy in the movie who was supposed to be in his early 20s, despite still hanging out with high school students.
At the time of the filming, McConaughey was 23, which fit his character, but the actors playing characters younger than Wooderson were actually older than McConaughey in real life. Sasha Jenson, who played Don Dawson, was 28 at the time, Joey Lauren Adams, who played Simone Kerr, was 24, and Parker Posey, who played Darla Marks, was also 24.
The Movie Wasn't Only McConaughey's Debut
Dazed and Confused is widely known as the movie that gave many young actors a great start in their careers. Among these were Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, and Milla Jovovich.
For McConaughey, this was his first feature film role, which also happened to gain him recognition, despite the fact that he only played a supporting character. But there were also other actors for whom the movie was a debut, including Wiley Wiggins (who played Mitch Kramer), Marissa Ribisi (who played Cynthia), Shawn Andrews (who played Kevin Pickford), and Renee Zellweger (who played Girl in Blue Truck, but the role was uncredited).
McConaughey Wasn't Originally Cast In The Movie
Due to budgetary constraints, the role of Wooderson was meant to be cast locally, but a funny incident led to McConaughey getting the role in the end.
At the time, McConaughey was a film student at the University of Texas in Austin and he had gone out drinking. The bar he went to had a bartender McConaughey knew from his film classes, so he gave him free drinks. McConaughey was so drunk that when the bartender pointed out casting director Don Phillips to McConaughey, the soon-to-be actor readily approached Phillips. The two got along well and Phillips invited McConaughey to visit his office the next day, which eventually got McConaughey the iconic role.
Director Richard Linklater Didn't Like McConaughey At First
Director Richard Linklater was very careful when choosing the actors to play his characters - and it was no different with Matthew McConaughey.
It turns out that Linklater didn't like McConaughey at first, thinking that he was "too good-looking." Linklater wanted Wooderson to be a little bit creepier, but in the end, McConaughey proved to be the perfect fit.
McConaughey's Character Wooderson Didn't Really Have Much Screentime
Another reason why McConaughey's character Wooderson was initially supposed to be cast locally was that his role didn't really have much screentime.
According to An Oral History of Dazed and Confused, Shawn Andrews' character, Kevin Pickford, was initially supposed to be more important, but Linklater noticed that Andrews wasn't getting along as well with the other actors as the director hoped he would. As a result, Pickford's screentime was cut, while Wooderson's was increased. Milla Jovovich's scenes were also cut because her character was Pickford's girlfriend and it wouldn't make much sense to keep them because she was mostly interacting with him.
McConaughey Improvised Many Of His Lines
As mentioned earlier, Wooderson's legendary phrase "Alright, alright, alright" was influenced by Jim Morrison, but most of McConaughey's dialogue was actually improvised.
According to An Oral History of Dazed and Confused, Wooderson's dialogue was either improvised by McConaughey or written on the spot most of the time, which eventually gave McConaughey more screentime.