True Detective star Woody Harrelson says that Matthew McConaughey's performance was great but sometimes made him want to slap his friend. The pair starred together in the first season of HBO's detective drama, which aired between January and March 2014, with every episode directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, who went on to helm the latest James Bond film No Time to Die. Although the series later received two more seasons following different characters, none of them captured the popular imagination as much as the original 8 episodes of True Detective season 1.
The season does indeed put Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey's characters at odds the whole time. Rust Cohle (McConaughey) and Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson) haven't worked together in over ten years since they fought over Marty's wife. However, they are tasked with investigating a case from 1995, which forces them to come face to face with every aspect of their past and their partnership. For obvious reasons, they frequently rubbed each other the wrong way during the intense and pressure-filled investigation, which takes them to some terrifying places, all of which made True Detective a compelling hit.
During a guest appearance on the Smartless podcast, Harrelson revealed a bit more about the backstage dynamic between the two actors. He reveals that while this didn't happen "after work," McConaughey would stay in character the entire time on set. Harrelson admits that "that f**king character just made me want to f**king slap him," and while he never acted on that impulse, it was difficult to work with him while he was in character sometimes. Read the full quote below:
Yeah. I mean, you know, there were times I would get kinda angry with Matthew. And he’s one of my best buddies, so it felt weird. But he was in character and that f**king character just made me want to f**king slap him. He’s so good. But he’d stay in character. You know, not after work, but while we were at work. It wasn’t like ‘Heyyy, buddy!’ None of that. So that was a little… But, anyway, it turned out good.
Harrelson and McConaughey's friendship has lasted many years. In addition to inevitably rubbing shoulders at a huge number of red carpets and parties, the pair starred together in three titles before taking on True Detective. The most prominent of these is probably the 1999 Ron Howard comedy Edtv about a down-and-out guy who lets a camera crew film his daily life, but they also worked together on Welcome to Hollywood in 1998 and Surfer, Dude in 2008.
True Detective will likely not get another season, mainly because they haven't quite been able to recapture the magic of that original run. So in spite of his irritation with his co-star, Harrelson clearly made that dynamic work for the characters rather than against them. It will be interesting to see when they work together again, and if it will only be when McConaughey takes on a less abrasive role.
Source: Smartless