Last month I wrote a post called “Can we stop concern-trolling Matthew McConaughey’s weight loss?” So consider this Part Deux. These are new pics of Matthew as he caught a flight from LAX to NOLA, where he’s going to being filming The Dallas Buyer’s Club tomorrow. You know what he’s playing in that film? A man dying of AIDS. THAT is why Matthew has lost so much weight so dramatically. He’s supposed to look awful. He’s supposed to look sick. He’s supposed to look like he’s dying. That’s the character he’s playing!!!!! I cannot emphasize that enough. There is absolutely no reason to believe that Matthew will not gain the weight back when he’s done with the movie. There’s absolutely no reason to believe that the Academy won’t take notice of a previously buff pretty boy doing this kind of dramatic physical transformation for a prestigious drama, and that all of Matthew’s suffering will pay off in an Oscar nomination. Still, People Magazine had to speak to a “source” close to Matthew about his weight:
Weight-wise, Matthew McConaughey is at his lowest point.
The actor, 43, was snapped looking shockingly frail Friday as he caught a flight from Los Angeles to New Orleans, where The Dallas Buyer’s Club is set to begin filming Sunday.
McConaughey has lost 30 lbs. – and gained a mustache – for the role. In the movie, he plays a mid-1980s AIDS patient who seeks out experimental HIV drugs to prolong his life.
“Matthew starts shooting this weekend, so he’s at his absolute lowest weight,” a source close to the actor tells PEOPLE. “In a month, he’ll begin to put it back on.”
Around the time he gains the weight back, McConaughey will gain a new family member as well – wife Camila is set to deliver their third child this winter.
Exactly! He’ll put the weight back on. You know what this reminds me of? Michael Fassbender’s transformation in his 2008 breakout film Hunger. If you haven’t seen it… it’s not an easy film to watch. And Fassy’s physical transformation is dramatic, and it earned him a lot of acclaim and that’s when a lot of people sat up and took notice.
So… the moral of the story is “don’t concern-troll Matthew, and he’ll be alright in the end.” I imagine that he did the weight loss thing with the help of a dietician and everything is being watched very carefully. And who knows? After this film, he’ll probably have a brand new career trajectory! Matthew McConaughey, Oscar winner?
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
He’s done a whole decade worth of crappy movies, but he actually is a good actor. So, maybe he will turn in an Oscar caliber performance.
It hurts to look at him right now, though, because he truly looks ill.
You think so really? He’s not awful but he’s the same person in every movie — he can’t change to fit the character .. sure sometimes he’s a little meaner/nicer/ whatever but he never engrosses himself in the role/part to become it — in action, speech ( this especially), movement — it’s all Matt all the time.
I think he’s trying to pull an award and beat Christian Bale which he just won’t ever do .. Bale has been serious about his acting since day one. And can take on more characters than Matt.
This. I suspect that Matthew McConawhatever always plays himself- and therefore, it’s not really acting.
I dunno… his character shift was pretty well done in Frailty. That film still gives me the willies.
You’re right. When he first came on the scene, he did a lot of great movies. Then he got stuck in some awful RomComs. It’s nice to see him get a career revival.
Reminds me of the way Steve Jobs looked those last few months before he died. Jesus.
I get why you’re doing it, Matthew, but hurry up and finish filming those scenes so you can eat like a normal human being again! And don’t catch the flu, because you don’t have the body mass to cope with it!
He looks fat. He could be new face of Weight Watchers.
He REALLY wants that Oscar.
So does Anne Hathaway…
Yup.. AND Ben Affleck. Before Argo he was rarely seen with his wife and kids and suddenly they get papped daily.
So now he is forced to diet down to a weight that is PUSHED onto every actress and model and because he is a man we are supposed to be concerned? If you took away the head from the scarf pic, he looks like any model flying through the airport.
Love those double standards. When Milan Kunis got thin for Black Swan everyone thought she looked great and she’s gotten flack for putting weight back on, yet we are so worried if it is a muscle dude. I’m sure he will be just fine.
*sigh*
You make a great point, Tiff. Apparently being healthy is not in vogue anymore for women in the film industry. If it ever was, that is. Either get down to a size 2, or get out.
I’d be willing to bet he’s got an army of doctors and nutrionists keeping an eye on him. It’s more than their life’s worth to let him severely ill.
+1 Not losing any sleep over this guy and his cushy life.
++1 he’s married to a Brazilian model and has tons of money, me neither.
I never thought Mila or Natalie Portman looked good in black swan, I was eating for them while watching Black Swan
+100000
Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Michael Fassbender, Anne Hathaway. All lost significant weight for movie roles without any concern trolling. All looked sick at the time, still no constant people magazine stories about their weight loss. Leave MM alone. http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9nkjdsVbp1ryexzbo1_1280.jpg
OMG, OriginalTiffany…this is EXACTLY what I was going to post…
I’m glad you guys feel the same. Look at runway models and VS models, they are this thin every day. I was shocked at how thin Barbara Palvin was in those Bieber shots.
I was even shocked by the few minutes of SNL I saw last night. Anne Hathaway is so very thin these days. Karlie Kloss’s bones just had to be airbrushed out of a shoot, yet those women are held up as thinspiration and a goal to shoot for on lots of websites.
A few men do it for a role and the earth stops, yet modern culture demands it of models and actresses. It is SICK.
I do not have one woman friend these days that is NOT on a diet…no matter how thin they are…meanwhile, their hubby’s all have big bellys and could care less!
I hate double (sexist) standards!
I especially hate when women enable it by even entertaining these slobs and letting the status quo continue.
It’s the same way all over society, girls are told they are more mature than boys (completely untrue by the way, both girls and boys mature mentally at the same rate).
I see thin/skinny women daily whilst most men are normal weight to chubby and down right fat!
if he was female he who probably have stopped menstruating because of the extreme weight loss.
he looks almost “fat” when you see the movie THE MACHINIST or RESCUE DAWN or COURAGE UNDER FIRE or HUNGER
he looks like Bale in THE FIGHTER
its dangerous to lose weight like that and put it back on–I hope its worth it.
it takes a serious toll on the body organs, especially the heart.
good luck w/that
Well that’s what I call starving for an Oscar…
I agree that he has been the same person in rom-com movies for years. I lost interest in him until Lincoln Lawyer recently. Good movie and he was great in the role. It made me realize how lazy he has been in choosing roles and that he is capable of more.
That’s what actresses look like on a regular basis (starving themselves)…we’re just not used to seeing it on a man.
Chrisian Bale has done this twice. And won an Oscar for one of them. Not that Matty comes even close to Bale as an actor. This isn’t for next year’s Oscars, so it may actually work. Because for next year, between Daniel Day Lewis and Denzel, he doesn’t stand a chance, all that effort would be for naught.
Bale did 3 times
Matt Mc C had a pretty good year (Bernie,Mudd,Paperboy and Migic Mike)he’s good in these movies
Weight loss will not win him an Oscar he needs to work on his acting and get rid of that TX accent in every film
Wow, honestly I would think he lost a lot more than 30 pounds. He looks more like 40 or 50. I can’t imagine how much mental strength this has taken for him to do this.
If Matt were a woman, we’d be saying how great he looks & how great all the latest runway fashions would hang from his thin frame.
Not with that big old head. He looks like Ally McBeal and we women were quite critical of her.
On the flip side Ms. Hathaway who claims to have done the same thing was nowhere near as thin as Matt or Ally McBeal weight as Fatine. She was obese compared to Ally.
@Double Standard: That’s not true, and you know that.
You hear/see people commenting on how actresses need to gain weight pretty frequently. “Eat a sandwich”, “She looks like a little boy”, “She’s anorexic” – all of these comments are common when a skinny actress is posted on celebrity blogs, even when it is clear that the actress is just naturally skinny.
Why are so many of you acting this doesn’t happen – like so many of you weren’t just asking why Anne Hathaway was so skinny and cut her hair?
I watched Killer Joe the other day. Matthew was fantastic! New found respect for him.
He really is a great actor. I’m glad he’s doing roles that can show off his acting chops.
Freddie Mercury.
I totally agree and thought that there was a slight resemblance as soon as I saw the photos.
Freddie Mercury was an incredible performer and seemed like a gentle soul. It breaks my heart to think of the awful way he passed. AIDS is such a nasty, nasty disease and my heart goes out to anyone living with it (or HIV) as well as their loved ones since I cannot imagine how horrifying it would be to have to watch your loved one slowly waste away.
I pray there is a cure someday for HIV/AIDS.
He looks like he’s gearing up for a General Custer biopic.
I’m enjoying stories about men’s weight for a change. I’ll add this one. Adrian Brody lost 30 lbs. for his role in, “The Pianist”, and he was thinner, (160 lbs.) and slightly taller than MM to begin with. Brody also learned to play Chopin at near concert pianist level.
Now I’ll start my off the top of my head list of male actors/comics/ musicians who have or had successful careers, sans weight criticism despite being too fat, having paunches/big bellies, having bloated faces and having bags under their eyes.
Russell Crowe, Danny Devito, Jimmy Kimmel, Sam Kinison, Chris Farley, Jonah Hill, older Marlon Brando, Edward G. Robinson, Jonah Hill, David Crosby, Jason Alexander, Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Orson Welles, middle aged+ Jack Nicholson… Gotta go now but I’ll be back cause this is fun. Please offer up your own choices
Russell Crowe’s lost quite a bit of weight (in a good way). I don’t think he was getting work when he got to Jonah Hill levels. He’s not a comedian nor a character actor. Leading men while not subjected to the same prejudices as leading ladies are still expected to not look too lumpy in a suit.
Was Jack Nicholson ever NOT middle aged? I’ve seen Easy Rider; he was already middle aged even though Peter Fonda and the late Dennis Hopper who I think are/were the same age were still young men.
Russell Crowe got lots of critisim for his weight. Now as much as Jessica simpson. But still he did get some.
And he works out like crazy (I follow him in twitter)
Must really want the oscar . . . besides the weight loss, he’s STOPPED TANNING!
He’s also let his hair go it’s natural dirty/dishwater blonde color. No highlights! The man is serious!
Oscar baby good luck hope it worth it. He looks scary like he is about to faint or something too exterim for me what they do for glory in the name of art sometimes.( I am not trying to be harsh). What was he eating or nothing eating? He can’t be avoiding food all together I mean he can’t concentrate and work properly..
Anyways, those movies with no shirt on are a kind of stopped working for him. There comes younger guys who look better without shirt on. It is Good he is trying to change and take some other movies. Weren’t he used to say he wasn’t a marrying type. Wasn’t he also a guy who always in the beach and gets half naked all the time and talks about seting up trailer homes everywhere etc? At least he is smart to wake up. I got to give him that.
He’s obviously planning to gain it back. He is wearing his old clothes. If he was planning to stay that way, he would get clothes that fit.
He looks more hideous than most because he has a big head in proportion to his body.
PS: Can we have a post about a man without bringing up Fassbender?
The best known examples of this are Christian Bale and in reverse Robert DeNiro.
Or maybe he is using his old clothes to generate buzz for his movie.
I don’t think there is anything that odd about people being more put off or “concerned” about his weight loss than say, Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman or Anne Hathaway. They are slim ladies who got skinny, he was a muscular man who got skinny. And yes, he looks no different from a skinny runway model, but skinny is the “ideal” in the case of models and hollywood actresses, and sadly even “regular” women sometimes. For men the ideal is what he WAS. This transformation is in a way more like Charlize Theron getting fatter for Monster. She went from “ideal” to shockingly unattractive, same thing happened here.
Very well put. I could not have said that better myself.
He looks like James Franco in some of these pics.
Oh Matthew. Sorry but every time I look at him I don’t think of Oscar. I think of 50 Cent! Remember how he dropped all this weight for s similar role and was posting his pictures when he was so thin. And some people thought: “Oh look, he lost so much weight. Who knows, this might be Oscar role. Because critics get crazy when celebrity get ugly, puts fake nose, fat face or loses weight. They automatically give Oscar nomination for it. It worked for Charlize and Nicole. I will work for anybody”…. And then we never heard of this movie again. I don’t think it was even released in theaters. Probably went straight to DVD.
Or how Christian Bale lost all that weight for The Machinist. I bet he hoped for Oscar nomination that year. And then movie was completely ignored by public and critics. And all his suffers were for nothing.
Sorry Mathew. But no matter how much weight you will lose – it will not make you a better actor. You are descent actor. No more. You can’t jump over you head just because you lost weight.
They couldn’t just get DJ Qualls to play the role. This is gross.
So much sacrifice for a role, I hope at least he gets an Oscar for it.