Alright, alright, alright. From the moment he appeared in Richard Linklater’s “Dazed and Confused,” most people thought he was going to be a star.
It was his first feature film. Some people are just destined to be famous regardless of whether they’re trained in the acting profession.
But that’s not McConaughey. And his new career will certainly turn some heads.
Matthew McConaughey is kind of in the same caliber or stratosphere of actor/movie star as Keanu Reeves in a way. Both meddle in many different genres. Both came on around the exact same time in the early 1990s.
Both have been in some unbelievable duds and box office disasters. McConaughey was in an absurdly tone-deaf movie in 2003 that you probably have never heard of called “Tiptoes,” which is about McConaughey introducing his wife to his entire family who happen to be dwarves despite him being normal height.
Keanu Reeves was in one of the biggest box office bombs of all time with “47 Ronin.”
But they have also both given great performances like Reeves in “Speed,” “A Walk in the Clouds” and “The Replacements.”
The only big difference between the two is McConaughey has more range as an actor and has the Academy Award for Best Actor in “Dallas Buyers Club” to prove it.
Now, McConaughey is taking his talents to a different realm, the higher education realm.
The Oscar winner will join the University of Texas at Austin as a professor this upcoming fall semester – teaching in the Department of Radio/Television/Film.
McConaughey has been a visiting instructor at the flagship campus in Austin since 2015. The university said in a statement Wednesday that the appointment recognizes his “outstanding work as a teacher and mentor.”
Department chair Noah Isenberg is clearly excited about making him a part time professor.
He said, “He has a passion for teaching, and for all things cinematic, that is palpable, even infectious.” He will continue teaching a Script to Screen film production class for which he developed the course curriculum. This fall, his students will be studying “The Gentlemen” and “Mud” with director Jeff Nichols, who is scheduled to visit.
McConaughey said in a press release, “It’s the class I wish I would have had when I was in film school. Working in the classroom with these students gives me a chance to prepare them. Making movies, turning words on paper into film, is both a science and art – no matter the time or generation. The elements of truth and genuine joy for the process are timeless. That will always be our classroom focus.”
McConaughey isn’t the only celebrity who teaches classes.
Oprah Winfrey taught a 110 person lecture at Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Her class, Dynamics of Leadership, required students to use over half of their yearly credits to enroll in her course. Her class was one of the most competitive courses to enroll in at Northwestern University and everyone who took it said it had a real impact on their lives
You can probably expect the same enrollment for McConaughey’s class as well.