McConaughey’s Visit to Filmland 2026 was Alright, Alright, Alright

Movie star Matthew McConaughey spoke Friday afternoon with director and Arkansas native Jeff Nichols to a sold-out crowd at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts.

Both were there as part of the 2026 Filmland programming, which is a weekend of educational workshops and film screenings to support Arkansan filmmakers.

“It’s hard to understand the breadth of his career,” Nichols said of McConaughey.

From dramas such as Dallas Buyers Club to rom coms such as How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, McConaughey’s work has spanned genres and brought him to many places, including Arkansas. In the Natural State, he shot the 2012 film Mud, which was written and directed by Nichols.

Despite having been to Arkansas, it was the actor’s first time in Little Rock, and the city welcomed him with open arms. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Mayor Frank Scott Jr. and other Arkansas politicians took the stage to deliver the proclamation that they were naming Aug. 14, 2026, Matthew McConaughey Day for the city.

Photo by Sarah DeClerk

Nichols led the audience through McConaughey’s career by asking him about his experiences working with various well-known directors.

“It’s a big career, and it’s hard to wrap our arms around it,” Nichols said.

When Nichols saw McConaughey in the 1996 film Lone Star, he knew he wanted to write the titular character in his movie Mud specifically for McConaughey.

However, McConaughey already had some impressive films under his belt before working with Nichols.

They started their discussion at the beginning of McConaughey’s filmography with the 1993 film Dazed and Confused. It is the movie where he first delivers his famous line, “Alright, alright, alright.” The film is directed by Richard Linklater, and Nichols inquired about how it was working with Linklater.

“He never said the word ‘no,’” McConaughey said.

Photo by Sarah DeClerk

McConaughey said he had three lines in the script of Dazed and Confused, and the rest of the film he spent improvising conversations in character. Linklater gave him room to have a “creative collaboration,” he said.

“Anything after the first take is acting,” McConaughey said.

He said it is great to shoot multiple takes while acting in a film, but after the first take, actors anticipate what will happen and must act like they do not rather than just delivering lines as though having a natural conversation.

Another set the actor discussed was The Wolf of Wall Street, in which he played Mark Hanna, a stockbroker and mentor to Jordan Belfort, portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio.

It was DiCaprio’s idea to have McConaughey do a humming vocal warm up in character during a scene in the film. The scene ended up being used in the final cut and is one of the stand-out moments of the film.

McConaughey said despite having to play difficult and dramatic roles, such as the main character in Dallas Buyers Club, a role for which he shrunk down to about 130 pounds, the biggest challenges of his career happened while portraying the love interest in rom coms. He did not like how, during many third acts of rom coms, the man would come back begging and feeling bad to win the woman back. McConaughey wanted the male characters to keep their dignity while also winning back the girl.

Photo by Sarah DeClerk

“We should make a rom com together sometime,” Nichols said.

McConaughey seemed to be on board, as well.

McConaughey’s latest film, The Rivals of Amziah King, is far from a rom com. The story follows McConaughey as an apiarist who reconnects with his daughter, but teaching her the family trade is stalled when beekeeping rivals threaten the family business

The film debuted later in the evening at the festival to another sold-out audience and was bookended by a Q&A.

More filmland events are scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday at AMFA.