No matter which way you look at it, The Rivals of Amziah King will hit select theaters this Friday feeling very long-awaited. The star, Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey, chose the indie as the one to bring him back to acting after a five-year hiatus from live-action productions. The director, Andrew Patterson, spent years developing the project as the follow-up to his celebrated 2019 debut, The Vast of Night. And then there’s the movie itself — which shot back in 2023, finally premiered at South by Southwest in the spring of 2025, and a year and a half later, is at last set for release via its production company and nascent distributor, Black Bear. Patterson declines to say much about the delay, except to imply: This release feels hard-earned.
That delay also explains why McConaughey has had other projects that filmed later on, like Paul Greengrass’ Oscar-nominated The Lost Bus, already reach the public. But watch Amziah King and the actor’s fresh energy remains unmistakable. The Texas native, who’d taken a break from Hollywood to focus on writing several books, gives a magnetic performance as the film’s titular honeymaker, born-again Christian and bluegrass musician — charming and mysterious and suffused with longing. He’s paired opposite a breakout star in Angelina LookingGlass, portraying Kateri, who lived with Amziah as his foster daughter for a few years before life pulled them apart. In adulthood and in crisis, she’s drawn back to him.
