THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 25, 1996 TAG: 9607250031
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: 114 lines
THE BUZZ STARTED several months ago, when the first, unfinished print of ``A Time to Kill'' was shown to movers and shakers in Hollywood.
Now, they're calling Matthew McConaughey the next Paul Newman. They're also calling him the next Robert Redford.
Matthew McConaugh-who?
It's just the beginning.
Thanks to a starring role in a new movie based on a John Grisham novel, the boy from Texas is sure to become a household name. He had small parts in just two films when he was chosen over a list of big-name stars who wanted to play Jake Brigance, the idealistic defense lawyer in ``A Time to Kill.''
``Hey, I have to say `Wow' a couple of times a day,'' McConaughey, 26, said a few days ago at New York's Regency Hotel. ``I'm enjoying it, I'm enjoying every minute of it. But who would have thought?
``I was always expected to go to law school. Acting was not something you think about. We were not allowed to go to many movies. We were not allowed to see many TV shows, either. But I remember `The Six Million Dollar Man' and `The Incredible Hulk' were my favorites.''
McConaughey has not been a star long enough to know not to tell too much about his background: His father was in the oil business, selling pipe couplings; he has two older brothers; he was 5 years old when he first kissed a girl.
``I was never good-looking (in high school). I mean, I didn't think about that, one way or the other,'' he said in his Texas drawl. ``I wanted to play football, and I had the regular high school girlfriend. I guess that I was with the `in' crowd, but I also had friends from other groups. I had friends across the board.''
McConaughey, who insists on being called Matthew, was between his junior and senior years at the University of Texas, majoring in psychology, when he decided to take a few film courses.
``I was interested in directing or writing, never in acting,'' he said. That changed when he got a part in ``Dazed and Confused,'' which was being filmed in Texas.
After graduation, he got a part in ``Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre,'' and decided to make the big leap. He hadn't been in Los Angeles a week when he was signed by the high-powered William Morris Agency.
He's already been romantically linked with ``A Time to Kill'' co-star Ashley Judd and actress Patricia Arquette. ``I don't have a girlfriend,'' McConaughey said in his best Texas drawl. ``I like women, but I don't have, right now, what I would really call a girlfriend.''
In his spare time, he is into golf, plants and considering other film offers. He was wanted for ``Speed II'' after Keanu Reeves walked off that project. Universal offered him the lead in the remake of ``Day of the Jackal.'' Instead, he is co-starring with Jodie Foster in ``Contact.''
Among his biggest new-star thrills was meeting Paul Newman. He's such a fan that he named his dog Hud, after one of Newman's most famous roles.
``I mean, it was a hell of a compliment just to meet him. Newman is the sage,'' he said. ``He told me to take my work seriously, but not to take myself seriously.
``Then, just as he left, he turned and said, `Give 'em hell, Matthew.' That's the kind of thing I won't forget.''
After fetching $6 million just for the screen rights, the adaptation of ``A Time to Kill'' was immediately crowned as one of the major films of 1996. Other films of Grisham books, all featuring major stars, have been hits - Tom Cruise in ``The Firm,'' Julia Roberts in ``The Pelican Brief,'' Susan Sarandon in ``The Client.''
The role of Jake Brigance was one of the more coveted in the Hollywood mix, and the studio wanted a big star. Grisham, however, who disliked some of the earlier adaptations of his novels, had final approval.
``A Time to Kill'' was Grisham's first novel - and his favorite. He turned down a long list of stars, among them Woody Harrelson.
Grisham chose director Joel Schumacher, a veteran of ``The Client,'' for the new film. Schumacher, though, was stymied in casting the young lawyer.
``We considered everyone from Macaulay Culkin to Milton Berle,'' he said, laughing. ``Most of the stars in the running were from 40 to 50, but I was determined that the actor be an unknown, and young.
``In the book, he's 32. He has to be young, because he's working to pay the mortgage and all that. To have the part played by a star would mean the audience would expect him to win the case. It would destroy any suspense.''
Schumacher saw McConaughey in ``Boys on the Side,'' playing a gung-ho lawman in pursuit of Drew Barrymore, and as an adolescent slacker in ``Dazed and Confused.'' The director flew the actor from Texas to Los Angeles for a screen test and immediately decided to back him for the part.
``I decided that Matthew was perfect, and if John hadn't accepted him, I was walking off the picture,'' Schumacher said. ``In order to just get Matthew in the picture, I offered him the part of the racial bigot, now played by Kiefer Sutherland.
``It's a small part, but it was an excuse to do the test. But John, after looking at Matthew's taped test, approved him for the part enthusiastically.''
Schumacher acknowledged that he had no idea that he had a new star on his hands. ``Just on the basis of a few scenes, the cover of Vanity Fair Magazine came. So did an article in the New York Times. None of this was expected.
``Every mother would want their daughter to meet him,'' Schumacher said. ``Then, after about 10 minutes, you'd lock up your daughter. He's this wild Texas boy, but he comes on as being very shy.''
As for ``A Time to Kill,'' McConaughey had seen it three nights before the interview.
``It seemed as if it were six hours long,'' he moaned. ``I was, well, looking at myself too much and I didn't see the rest of the film. I'm pretty unsure about whether I liked my performance or not.
``But then I saw it again the next night and I saw the whole movie. I think it's a great movie. It's a real moral dilemma, the kind of movie you can discuss on the way home.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
WARNER BROS.
Charles S. Dutton, left, co-stars with new screen idol Matthew
McConaughey in ``A Time to Kill.''
Photo
WARNER BROS.
Sandra Bullock stars with Matthew McConaughey in ``A Time To Kill.''
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY MOVIES by CNB