Alright, alright, alright, Matthew McConaughey is a worldwide movie star, but before that, he lived a hellish nightmare for an entire year in Australia.
The talented movie star describes his year of “living hell” in his own words when he thought he signed up for 12 months of paradise. At the time, the young 18-year-old believed he had hit the jackpot. An entire year in Australia on an exchange program, where he’d soak up the sun, surf the waves and possibly bump into supermodel Elle Macpherson. But none of that actually happened when Matthew McConaughey ended up in Australia, thousands of miles from home.
Matthew McConaughey’s year of ‘hell’ in Australia
The Dallas Buyers Club actor was a young man unsure of what to do with his life. Undecided on his future, Matthew McConaughey’s dad and mom suggested he take on an exchange trip and see the world before having to put down his roots for the rest of his life.
He jumped at the chance, and before Matthew McConaughey knew it, he was flying to Australia to stay with a family Down Under. A teenage boy from that country was travelling to spend 12 months with his family in Texas in the meantime.
The celebrity, who wrote about the experience in his memoir Greenlights, travelled across the world in 1988. Before the leap, he was voted as ‘Most Handsome’ at school. He also claimed he was dating the ‘best looking girl’ in town. But all that came crashing down when he was thrust into an ‘awkward’ high school in Australia. He couldn’t get use to the different culture, claiming “no one wanted to party and the chicks were not digging me”.
His game was off.
Not only that, but he claims he suffered strange behavior with his exchange family, renamed the Dooleys for the book. They had sold him on living in Sydney for his time on the trip. But it turns out they lived on a dirt road 100km north.
Matthew McConaughey said his life in Australia was tough, claiming they had strict rules.
He said it was “tortuous” and was a “living mental hell” away from his previous life.
The star also dropped to a tiny 58kg after going vegetarian and living off ketchup and lettuce.
For the final six months of his trip, he managed to switch living arrangements to a friend he made via a work placement. But he said the first family tried to stop him from going at all.
Then, when he returned he found out that the teenager he swapped lives with had the best time of his life in Texas. Matthew joked he visited NASA, wooed women and drained the liquor cabinet dry.
‘Alright, alright, alright’ that didn’t go to plan
The famous catchphrase of the star wasn’t even meant to be uttered, he has also revealed. Many fans love to roll the word off their tongue three times in a row when it comes to discussing the Texas native.
But in his memoir, he also describes that the line wasn’t even in the script.
Despite his great achievements on the silver screen, ‘Alright, alright, alright’ is his iconic catchphrase. Similarly to how Owen Wilson can’t stop saying ‘wow’ in any flick he’s in, either.
In the beginnings of his career, Matthew bagged a roll in Dazed and Confused. He was asked to play David Wooderson and only had a few words to say in a short scene. Wooderson was a man in his 20s who would hang out with high school students.
To prepare for the role, and feeling incredibly nervous, Matthew was listening to a live music album from The Doors. He heard Jim Morrison say ‘alright’ over and over again while trying to imagine who his character Wooderson was. He noted in his mind the part only cared about ‘drinking, smoking, his car and pretty girls’. Wooderson was scripted to arrive in his car, and Matthew thought to himself, ‘okay, he’s got three of the things checked off already’… ‘Alright, alright, alright’. He ended up saying it out loud as he counted to himself, and it made it in the final cut of the film.
Although Matthew hasn’t turned into Wilson where he says it in almost every movie, he does still use the phrase. Generally it’s in talk show interviews or chats as a treat for fans.
He’s not bitter that three words are his most famous lines from Hollywood either.
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