McConaughey plays Ron Woodroof, who is diagnosed with AIDS and given 30 days to live. He initially refuses to accept the diagnosis, but after being ostracized by family and friends, fired from his job, and evicted from his home, he sets out to help other victims get off-label drugs that will keep them alive. This biographical drama is directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and co-stars Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto.

When that came out, remember, no one knew about the disease or where it came from. Everyone thought it was a homosexual disease. This guy gets it; he thought he had a flu, a bug he can’t kick. He took his life into his own hands and really pioneered progressive research into unapproved vitamins and drugs that the FDA wasn’t letting into America for people with HIV to take at the time. It’s a wonderful story told from an original point of view. I haven’t seen the subject matter told from the point of view of a heterosexual man.

In this drama-thriller directed by Jeff Nichols. McConaughey plays Mud, who is hiding out on an island in the Mississippi. Mud befriends two boys and describes fantastic scenarios-he killed a man in Texas and vengeful bounty hunters are coming to get him. Co-starring Resse Witherspoon, and Samp Shepard.

There have been characters I’ve met, and most of them probably being in the rural South [who] had little, you know … bits of knowledge like Mud, but nobody as fully committed and with a full constitution like Mud. I mean, Mud, if he ever came to the so-called mainland and got off of the proverbial island and was sort of reined in by civilization, I don’t think he’d survive. So he’s really getting his knowledge from the stars, from the river, from Mother Nature — and that’s one of the great things about the South. [It’s] inevitable that’s where you’re gaining your knowledge of how the world works, because you’re just engrossed in the middle of Mother Nature.

McConaughey plays Joe Cooper, a police detective who has a side career as a contract killer will do the job for an upfront fee, that Chris (Emile Hirsch) and Ansel (Thomas Haden Church) can’t pay. Joe offers to take Chris’ younger sister Dottie (Juno Temple) as a “retainer” until the insurance comes through. This action drama is directed by William Friedkin and co-stars Gina Gershon.

Joe is like a black panther.Every movement is deliberate, minimal. Never really exposing light, not out to really define himself, not out to help you understand who he is, not out to ‘let’s keep this conversation rolling.’ Not out to make friends.

In this legal thriller, directed by Brad Furman, McConaughey plays Mickey Haller, who represents a high-profile client on charges of attempted murder. But as new evidence continues to pile on, Haller starts to grow suspicious that perhaps his client isn’t telling him everything. Co-starring Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe, Josh Lucas, John Leguizamo, Michael Peña, Bryan Cranston, and William H. Macy.

The whole script had movement, in its simplest form, for the mobile office. The Lincoln had such great entrances and exits from scenes. Open up, the Lincoln pulls in, he gets out. It’s a great segue-way. It’s literally a vehicle for segue-ways. That was something true about these guys who do what he does. They don’t stop. Everything is moving, like a dance. They’ve always got a few things going. They have a dexterity that is always on the move.

McConaughey plays David Wooderson, a 20 year old loser who still hangs out with high schoolers and uses marijuana to socialize with people, in this comedy drama is written and directed by Richard Linklater. Co-starring Parker Posey, Milla Jovovich, Ben Affleck.

The character of Wooderson is about four things: He’s about his car, he’s about getting high, he’s about getting high, he’s about rock and roll, and picking up chicks.

McConaughey plays Edward “Ed” Pekurny, a video store clerk who agrees to have his life filmed by a camera crew for a television show, in this comedy drama directed by Ron Howard. Co-starring Jenna Elfman, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Hurley, Dennis Hopper, Ellen DeGeneres, Rob Reiner, Martin Landau, and Sally Kirkland.

I was ready to go to a weekend character. This is the lighter side of things. You know, my research was my Friday and Saturday nights with my friends, having a good time, and all of a sudden laughing at something and writing down what we laughed at and going, ‘What if that’s Ed’s sense of humor?