Matthew McConaughey is having a year for the ages. 2012 began with critical darling Bernie, followed by the blockbuster Magic Mike. Now he's back in a film with his home state as its locale in Killer Joe. The Texas native spoke to Movie Fanatic for an exclusive video interview and let us in on how he came to take the role that personifies villainy. “I didn’t get it at first,” McConaughey said of reading the script.
He felt his character and the film were too dark, as evidenced in the Killer Joe poster. But, he would soon discover its heart. "I didn’t get any of the humor. I didn’t allow myself to get underneath and see the humanity of these characters. Then I went back and re-read it, and I found the chuckles. I found the deliberate provocation.”
Thank goodness he gave the film a second read, because he turns in the performance of his career as a Lone Star State detective who works as a for-hire killer on the side. When he is employed by a trailer park family to take out their matriarch, McConaughey takes over the entire film and shows co-stars Thomas Haden Church, Emile Hirsch, Gina Gershon and Juno Temple why he’s one of the best.