Matthew McConaughey is officially back.
On Friday afternoon, the revered actor descended upon Filmland, an annual film festival in Little Rock, Arkansas, to receive the Variety Legend & Groundbreaker Award as well as present a screening of his latest film, “The Rivals of Amziah King,” wherein he stars as a honey-maker who finds himself roped into a criminal plot. Directed by Andrew Patterson, and marking the stellar debut of co-star Angelina LookingGlass, “The Rivals of Amziah King” is the first film McConaughey shot in five years, and our critic said it marks a welcome return for the actor, with the role fitting him “like a glove” while also being “different from anything he’s every done.”
Prior to the screening, the Oscar-winning actor sat down for a conversation with filmmaker Jeff Nichols, a Little Rock native and co-founder of both the Arkansas Cinema Society and its film festival, Filmland, as well as the man who directed McConaughey in 2012’s “Mud,” which marked the beginning of what became known as the “McConaissance.”
McConaughey, 56, was his usual charming, gregarious self, regaling the crowd at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts with tales from the set, including his unforgettable film debut in Richard Linklater’s 1993 cult classic “Dazed and Confused” and working with Christopher Nolan on 2014’s “Interstellar.”
