Matthew McConaughey is on a bit of a roll. Last year, the actor wow’d critics with his performance in The Lincoln Lawyer and this summer he did the same with quality efforts in both Magic Mike and the very limited NC-17 release Killer Joe. The point is that Hollywood is picking up on that this is not the McConaughey of old and it is paying in the form of more high-value roles that other actors would love to pick up.
Today’s news has the actor joining a very big movie in the form of Martin Scorsese’s next Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer The Wolf of Wall Street. For those not informed, the film is based on the memoires of a Jordan Belfort which chronicled the investment banker’s hard-living, drug using lifestyle. That said, McConaughey will play Mark Hanna who is the early boss and mentor for Belfort, so it is definitely a meaty supporting gig.
It is hard to imagine that the actor is going to find the time to fit this into his busy schedule. He has an anthology-type HBO series coming up called True Detectives in which he co-stars with long-time friend Woody Harrelson and two films currently in pre-production (The Dallas Buyer’s Club and Thunder Run.) Furthermore, there is that Magic Mike sequel which is being fast-tracked.
By joining The Wolf of Wall Street, McConaughey will add to an already impressive cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Jean Dujardin, Rob Reiner, Kyle Chandler, and Jon Bernthal. Terry Winter adapted the memoire for the big screen.