Greenlights

Greenlights is the autobiography of Matthew McConaughey, in which he takes us on a wild ride of his journey through a childhood of tough love, rising to fame and success in Hollywood, changing his career, and more, guided by the green lights he saw that led him forward at each step.

Matthew grew up in Texas in a family with some pretty unorthodox ideas. His parents had a very combative relationship, but in the end, they did always love each other. They had two divorces and got married three times.

Matthew also had a few beatings of his own. One of these times was for just saying, “I can’t.” On another occasion he got in trouble for telling his brother he hated him. He did learn two important lessons from these incidents though— that you shouldn’t hate and you should never say you can’t.

McConaughey was popular and did well with the ladies in high school. But after high school ended, things quickly changed. As a member of the Rotary Club, Matthew spent a year in Australia as an exchange student. Thinking he’d go to Sydney, he was shocked to end up in a tiny town called Warnervale. Matthew felt isolated and lonely like never before.

However, this experience taught him that he needed structure and challenge in his life. He became a vegetarian and practiced abstinence. His time alone forced him to look inside, figure out who he was, and what he wanted out of life.

After returning home, he pursued law but felt it wasn’t for him. A friend read his short stories and suggested he try film school. He was nervous to tell his dad, but when he did, he simply said, “Well… Don’t half-ass it.” This was exactly the greenlight he needed.

Matthew worked hard in film school but knew he’d need some luck as well. One night, at the Hyatt hotel bar, McConaughey met and drank with Don Phillips, who was in town to shoot a movie. They connected over golf and vodka, and by the time they got a cab hours later, Don offered Matthew a part in his film. The movie was Dazed and Confused. Matthew played Wooderson, a college-aged partier. Originally, Wooderson would only have three scenes, but they liked Matthew’s look and interpretation of the character so much, he recorded for three weeks. Dazed and Confused opened the door, but another film, A Time to Kill, made him famous. Director Joel Schumacher wanted Matthew for a smaller part, but when the lead actor dropped out, McConaughey seized his chance. He set a meeting to perform the movie’s climax courtroom scene for the studio heads. Schumacher told him he would need to…