Matthew Mcconaughey is being haunted this weekend in his latest romantic comedy “The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past”
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Matthew McConaughey seems to star in every third romantic comedy – he is , as Movies.ie learned, the perfect date. For his latest flick, McConaughey steps out on his two-time rom-com partner Kate Hudson to woo Jennifer Garner in The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, a modern take on the Dickens tale with McConaughey visited by the ghosts of his girlfriends past:
Q: How is fatherhood treating you?
MM: “It’s just great, thanks. I love it.”
Q: What is the best bit about being a dad?
MM: “Ummm. Everyday. This is everything I’ve always dreamed about – this is it. I mean, we all have projects. Y’know, we go make movies, we have things, we have goals, we achieve and we build something up. We are architects of things. Well, the greatest architect I can be, the one I have always looked forward to is the architect of raising my child. And that’s gonna be brand new, every day and it’s never going to repeat itself and to bring in a healthy child and to raise him the right way and then to a certain point and then let him go, and then to still see him from afar? He’ll come back and we’ll see how they’ve grow in to a young man or young woman. Hopefully, an old man or old woman. That’s the greatest miracle in the world.”
Q: Have you got big plans for your son
MM: “Make no doubt about it. My kid will have fun. He will dance. He will be on the beach and he will be taking wild hikes (Laughs.)
Q: Is there any advice you’re going to pass down to your son? I’ve heard you talk about what advice your father gave you and always worked?
MM: “Respect women. That was the…I think I was asked recently and then asked about it today, what was the birds and bees talk that I had, and it was always pop talking about respecting a woman. I think I’ve said this before
Q: You were about to be a father during filming Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Did Jennifer give you any pointers and did you have discussions with her about parenthood?
MM: “I’m sure we did. I don’t remember exactly what we said now that I’m doing it. I’ve said this though, what she was great at in hindsight after now having a child, it was very seamless how she handled being a parent and being an actress. It was very seamless, at least it seemed seamless.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your character Connor Meads?
MM: “Yeah, when you first meet him he’s ina studio – he is a fashion photographer, has a very busy life. There are a lot of women in his life. You find out that he has hundreds, if not thousands, of short-term relationships. Never had a long-term relationship but that is fine with him because he loves women
Q: What happens in the movie?
MM: “Well the ghosts of girlfriends past take me back to my past to see myself when I met Jenny, when she gave me my first camera, to see that true puppy love in High School and Junior High. To see where I was at the dance and had a chance to take her to the dance but she went with the other guy. He was her first kiss. But then I get shown me living with my uncle Wayne who said ‘Don’t sweat it kid, get over it right now. Power in all relationships lies with whoever cares less – so don’t care.’ So that’s the mantra my character has and it causes heartbreak and he never realised it.”
Q: What was it like working with Jennifer Garner?
MM: “It was great. For one, she is easy on the eye but she is good looking on the inside too. She is a woman, she’s got kids, she is very secure with herself. She is very confident. But what I particularly like about her is that she not only understands, but she appreciates male identity. She appreciates a male perspective. She doesn’t play it tit for tat or as a battle of the sexes. That’s not where she comes from. She appreciates the difference in a man or a woman. She’s with it and she gets it. She’s a grown up in that way. It makes her very attractive and it also allows us to spar in a good honest way.”
Q: Did you learn anything from this movie?
MM: “That partying with Uncle Wayne [Mike Douglas] is fun (laughs).”
Q: What was it like working with Michael Douglas?
MM: “It was a ball working him, and I really enjoyed some of the time offset between shots talking about producing and just the movie business as a whole. I learned a lot of cool things from him just talking the film business, making movies and just a lot of experiences he had, Wall Street, Coo Coos Nest, things like that. A lot of times when you work with someone who’s been around for a while and is a living legendary figure you have an idea about them. But when you work with them they get mortalised because you’re working with them. And Michael didn’t become smaller to me but I was really impressed with how simple he was. Whether it was from being on time, being prepared or just ‘Hey, let’s do this’ there was just no extra riff raff. Not that I expected it. I knew him a little from a couple of golf tournaments. But working alongside him turned out to be great.”
Q: Did he offer you advice for your own production company?
MM: “Yeah…yeah. I’m trying to seek and learn as much as I can on any producers and anyone that’s made successful films. Acting or producing, I’m always trying to seek out something.”
Q: With a romantic comedy, do you have to accept certain things, maybe a little unrealistic, that go with the territory that aren’t romantic?
MM: “Yeah, the ghosts were a big unrealistic thing, but that’s just one of the things that made this one original. Because usually it’s just guy-girl, guy-girl, guy-girl, you know we’re going to split up, look at the poster, you we’re going to get together at the end but, hopefully, you’re going to be entertained in how we get together at the end. This had a huge twist. Ghosts, we had to go back to kids. I go get fiancé to go back with brother to get them married and then get lucky enough to have second chance with childhood sweetheart. It was viewed in some really interesting ways, this one.”
Q: Talk about the movie stardom ride. Is it what you expected?
MM: “I never had an expectation. Because I didn’t know what the hell it was about and didn’t expect it. I didn’t even know I was going to be acting until I was 21. I like how it’s going. I’m happy. I love my job. I’m starting to like it more actually than I used to, because I understand it a little bit better. I understand where and how my job’s more like the rest of my life and I also understand where it’s different and where it’s separate. Sometimes I want it to be very seamless with where I am in my own life at that time. Other times, I want it to be a complete trip for me, a journey away from where I am. So I’m enjoying it.
Q: What about the attention?
MM: “The attention? I don’t have much of a strong opinion on that because, and I think I know what you’re getting at. You said public eye and you said attention, because it’s inevitable and I personally don’t choose to go, I’m not going to retreat or go hide out. I go ahead and just don’t advertise myself and what I’m doing but I take a breath and just go do what you do anyway.”
Q: Do you ever find that you get girlfriends popping up from your past?
MM: “Sometimes. You find that people that you didn’t know surface and say they did know you. They do it on camera on the red carpet and you’re like ‘What?’ and you find yourself wanting to say ‘Oh yeah, I remember you’ but you realise that you really don’t know them and it was complete fiction. They don’t know you.”
Q: What would you do on your ideal date?
MM: “The ideal date? It has to do with food. And I’m cooking it. My date’s cooking it. And we’re trying to make it last as long as possible because then we can have another glass of wine plus the later it comes on, the better it tastes because you’re really hungry. No, it is good. It changes…Maybe a trip down to the store for something fresh on the meat side, but other than that, we want to basically clean out the fridge. And, we may bake something – we may also use the grill – and then we may end up with everything in the same pot by the time it’s time to eat. But different marinades and different sauces, yeah. The McConaughey Way.”
Q: Did you have your first kiss at your 7th grade dance?
MM: “I had mine at the dance, very similar to the dance in this film. I had mine. What did they say in the movie? “He’s a senior, there’s going to be tongue.” It wasn’t that. But I was buzzing for weeks after that because I pulled it off and went for it.
Q: What was the song?
MM: “It was before Careless Whisper. Remember Careless Whisper? Wham.”
Q: What experience have you had with the angst of weddings?
MM: “You wanna talk about weddings? I’ve been in a couple of weddings where the coolest people that were the most day before so mellow and then the day of the wedding freaking out. Not about getting married but about this is not being pulled off. What’s happening? The things that go wrong. At that time, you’re walking a tightrope I suppose.”
Q: Will you be a groom in the future?
MM: “Am I getting married in the future? Not today. Honestly, not today. I don’t have any plans for it. I was asked this earlier. It’s not an institution I’m against at all. I’m actually for it, believe in it and have seen it actually be very, very healthy for many relationships. Some people go through it some great ways. It’s just not something I plan on doing right now and that I feel like I need to do right now, but I’m not against it at all.”
Q: Carrie Underwood has been apologizing for hitting on you at the CMA’s – do you think an apology was necessary?
MM: “I heard something about this. I thought that was hilarious. That was a great off the cuff comment she made. I didn’t know that there was a big apology. I told some story at the CMA’s about when I was a kid, me and my brother met a couple girls, they got very interested in us, we got interested in them. They said ‘what do you all do for a living?’ and we just lied and said, ‘we custom make all George Strait’s boots.’ And we have an exclusive contract with him. Then they got really interested. So we said, ‘as a matter of fact,’ in the trunk of the car, in the parking lot, we have his next year’s, unreleased, exclusive signature series white ostrich quilt boots, if you want to see them.’ And they said, ‘can we? Can we?’ The point of the story is we got lucky that night, thank you, George, who was in the audience. So, yeah, then she won the award. And then I gave the presentation and among her saying thank you she was like, ‘I’d like to see those boots.’ And it was hilarious. It was a big laugh. Everyone in the whole stadium laughed. It was cute. It was really kind of adorable.”
Q: You’ve been voted the best body in Hollywood. You should do a workout video!
MM: “It would be a long one. I would never do the same thing over and over, so I don’t know what the hell video it would be. Get some nice tight spandex, matching wristbands, swim out to the buoy and back. Got to go to the store to go grab some food? Don’t drive, lets run, time me.”
Q: We all know you are a big music fan and that you enjoy playing instruments- especially the bongos. Do you still play them in the nude?
MM: “Yeah, I love playing drums naked. Who doesn’t like comfort and music?!”
“Ghost of Girlfriends Past” is in Irish cinemas Friday, May 1st.