Filmsane

Matthew McConaughey is back ladies and gents. And this time with another biopic. Yup. The first trailer for White Boy Rick is out today and i really have big hopes for this movie. White Boy Rick is a Yann Demange directed crime drama story about Richard Wershe Jr. A teenager who became an undercover informant for the FBI during the 1980″s and was ultimately arrested for drug-trafficking and sentenced to life in prison.

Matthew plays Richard Wershe Sr., the father of the boy, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bruce Dern, Bel Powley, Piper Laurie are also in the cast. The release is set for September 21st, and i frankly can hardly wait for this one. Darren Aronofsky is credited as one of the producers of this biopic, and who knows… It just might be a strong contender for the upcoming award circuit, since Demange’s previous flick 71 was so revered and acclaimed.

But this is not the first time Matthew plays a real life person in a biopic film story. In fact it’s his 7th. Starting from Amistad in the mid 90’s, leading up to 2016’s Gold (a movie also inspired by a real life people and events). He’s one of the lucky ones to have won an Oscar playing a real life person of film, and who knows… Maybe this will be his second attempt at that. Winning another Oscar for another biopic.

What are the other 7 films (besides White Boy Rick) in which Matthew McConaughey played a real person?

Amistad (1997)

Director: Steven Spielberg
Real life person that Matthew played: Roger Sherman Baldwin
Fun fact about the movie: Sir Anthony Hopkins astounded the crew by delivering the entire seven page courtroom speech in a single take. Steven Spielberg was so in awe, he couldn’t bring himself to call him Tony, and insisted on addressing him as Sir Anthony throughout the shoot.

We Are Marshall (2006)

Director:McG
Real life person that Matthew played: Jack Lengyel
Fun fact about the movie: Ian McShane claimed that he got into character by drawing on his memories of the fatal plane crash of the Manchester United soccer team, having known some of the players.

Bernie (2011)

Director: Richard Linklater
Real life person that Matthew played: DA- Danny Buck Davidson
Fun fact about the movie: Matthew McConaughey’s mother, Kay McConaughey, makes a cameo in the film as one of the residents of the town.

Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Real life person that Matthew played: Ron Woodroof
Fun fact about the movie: Over the course of its twenty years in circulation, the script was turned down over 100 times.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Director: Martin Scorsese
Real life person that Matthew played: Mark Hanna
Fun fact about the movie: Matthew McConaughey’s scenes were shot on the second week of filming. The chest beating and humming performed by him was improvised and actually a warm-up rite that he performs before acting. When Leonardo DiCaprio saw it while filming, the brief shot of him looking away uneasily from the camera was actually him looking at Martin Scorsese for approval. DiCaprio encouraged them to include it in their scene and later claimed it “set the tone” for the rest of the film.

Free State of Jones (2016)

Director: Gary Ross
Real life person that Matthew played: Newton Knight
Fun fact about the movie: Eunice Smith, an actual descendant of Newt Knight, was an extra in the movie.

Gold (2016)

Director: Stephen Gaghan
Real life person that Matthew played:Kenny Wells, based on Bre-X CEO David Walsh.
Fun fact about the movie: During an interview on ESPN’s First Take, Matthew claimed this was his favorite role he has ever done.