Matthew McConaughey says getting to do “bad stuff” and act "depraved" on screen is a big thrill.
The 52-year-old actor – who previously revealed he once turned down a $14.5 million offer for a rom-com after a six-month sabbatical from the film industry to get away from the genre – starred as deceiver and sorcerer Walter Padick in 2017 science fantasy Western “The Dark Tower”, while he also played the titular murderer in 2011’s “Killer Joe”.
And McConaughey admits playing characters who are evil or up to no good is intoxicating.
However, he believes such roles are only good for actors who are “calm” in their own lives.
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McConaughey is quoted by the Daily Star newspaper as saying: “Being bad is the best. It just is.
“It shouldn’t be, but getting to do bad stuff or depraved drama. And with no repercussions – in other words, you go home, see your family at the end of the day – you know, I like that.
“I think it’s true that you have to be in a calm open space first in your life if you are to do that and I’m glad to say I am certainly there.
“So beyond that, I feel there is a real freedom to shed light on the shade of a character.”
The “Magic Mike” star previously revealed how “no one” wanted to cast him after he rejected romantic comedies.
McConaughey became a Hollywood heartthrob after starring in movies like “The Wedding Planner”, “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” and “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”.
He said:“Now, 14 months go by after that six months where nothing comes in, I call my agent every other day, ‘What you got?’
“ ‘Buddy, no one is even mentioning your name. I bring up your name they say, ‘Don’t even want to talk about it.’ Now I’m going, ‘I may have just taken a one-way ticket out of Hollywood. I may never work in Hollywood again'.
“But I had a hunch that I was like with each day – You know when you go and you endure something and you’re taking a pennant, with each day you build a little bit more honour and strength to drag it into this, the less it’s even going to be a possibility of me going back. I was not going back.”
However, the “Dallas Buyers Club” actor’s plan worked out, as his self-imposed exile resulted in people wanting to get him on board for different projects.
He added: “Guess who is now a new novel good idea for dramatic roles like ‘Killer Joe’, ‘Mud’, ‘Paperboy’, ‘Bernie’, ‘True Detective’, ‘Dallas Buyers Club’, ‘Magic Mike’? Me. I found anonymity in the 20 months.
“I turned into, ‘Where the hell’s McConaughey? He’s not in a rom-com in the theatre in front of me. He’s not in a rom-com in my living room. I’m not seeing him shirtless on the beach, where the hell is he? I don’t know what he’s doing.’
“I found anonymity. I unbranded, and then when those came to me, the scripts came to me that I want to do …, I attacked it with fangs instead and just ate it up, because I knew what I wanted to do, but it was the un-branding. It was the go find anonymity again.”