A few days ago, Esquire magazine posted an article headlined “Matthew McConaughey Might Be the Greatest Actor of His Generation.”
The overstimulated author of the piece looked at the actor’s recent run of challenging roles and came up with the idea that McConaughey might be “an American Daniel Day-Lewis” based on his most recent performance in Dallas Buyers Club.
Well, let’s take a deep breath. Yes, McConaughey’s current streak is impressive, and movies such as The Paperboy and Magic Mike and Bernie show off different sides of his talent that have nothing to do with being a movie star and everything to do with being an actor. So give him credit for daring choices and for full-on commitment to his craft: For Dallas Buyers Club, he lost an alarming amount of weight to get his look right.