McConaughey on Lopez, Being Naked, and More
Mr. Showbiz article - by Victor Malafronte - April 24, 2000
Matthew McConaughey, currently starring in the box-office hit U-571 as a submarine skipper whose actions speak louder than anything he might say, also seems to live by that motto, wearing a T-shirt that proclaims, "What is it about naked bongos you don't understand?"
Yes, the notorious naked bongo player — whose late-night musical exploits last fall in his Austin, Texas, home involved a nationally publicized arrest — has a sense of humor about his startling encounter with the law.
McConaughey shrugs and says, "I am naked more often, I only don't get caught. All charges [including drug charges and resisting arrest] were dropped except for the noise violation; I paid $50. It was kind of a laughable offense."
His good buddy and former girlfriend Sandra Bullock says of McConaughey, "He looks gorgeous naked and should run around naked until it starts falling." She adds, "No one has handled it with a better sense of humor. It was an unfortunate situation for him and the police department. When I heard the news, it freaked me out. I've never known anybody arrested and I realized it was because he wouldn't put on his clothes."
The incident spotlighted the fragile nature of stardom, showing how an innocuous night can become a career-threatening incident. McConaughey's humor turned an embarrassment into a good-ol'-boy escapade. However, McConaughey was recently in the tabloids with a story about his current co-star Jennifer Lopez and her boyfriend, Puff Daddy. On the San Francisco set of the romantic comedy The Wedding Planner, an enraged Puff Daddy allegedly appeared to threaten the leading man for getting too chummy with his lady.
"That's pretty good imagination, man. Usually these rumors have some basis in truth, and they'll fictionalize after that. This one I have no idea," McConaughey says. "Someone dreamed it up."
Still, he is willing to deal with the demands of celebrity, even as he keeps his private stuff (mostly) private. "It's not, obviously, easy," he says. "I mean, you're asking questions and boom! I can sit here and not answer or say, 'None of your business.' To that extent, sure, it's easy.
"Every time around a movie, it gets more intense on my life. It can be easy if I don't go out, or if I choose to say, 'No comment.' I'm pretty private, but also not as sacred as I once was, and I don't give a damn what people say anymore. That helps take off some of the pressure. The media and its opinions is its own beast and will happen with or without me, especially with a film coming out."
McConaughey became an A-list name with A Time to Kill, but if you're only as hot as you're last box-office, the commercial failure of The Newton Boys and EDtv set him back. Now that U-571 appears to be a hit, it should help him regain some luster. The actor himself says it's not a McConaughey picture. "This one in particular is not being sold that way, and it shouldn't be," he explains matter-of-factly. "My name does not greenlight a picture. My name above the title does not make a weekend-opening box office. It has before and it can again.
"But [a box-office smash] is luck; it's a crapshoot. If you try and figure it out and fail, you can go sour. It's foolish to put yourself through that. You're not going to figure it out. Some movies are better than others. I do what interests me."
As for his military-length buzz cut in the movie, McConaughey laughs and says, "Love the haircut. If I could have, I'd have been bald. I wanted to take care of business and be a no-frills guy. This was the best haircut I've had. You wake up in the morning and put a wash cloth on it. It feels good — nothing to hide." —Stephen Schaefer
