Just days after his new book Just Because hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, Matthew McConaughey opened up about how the book came to him in a dream.
The 53-year-old Uvalde, Texas native was the first guest back on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the first episode in five months due to the writers strike.
He also revealing that he’ll never get tired of saying, ‘All right’ from his first movie – the 1993 classic Dazed and Confused.
While his first book Greenlights was a huge hit – reaching 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list recent – McConaughey revealed he never planned on writing a children’s book… until a dream he had one night.
‘I never really thought about it look, this came to me in a a little ditty of a dream one night, and I woke at 2:30 with this little, hook, you know. “Just because they threw the dart don’t mean that it’s stuck dun-dun-dun. Just because I got skills, don’t mean there is no luck,’ McConaughey explained.
Dream: Just days after his new book Just Because hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, Matthew McConaughey opened up about how the book came to him in a dream
Never: He also revealing that he’ll never get tired of saying, ‘All right’ from his first movie – the 1993 classic Dazed and Confused
Hit: While his first book Greenlights was a huge hit – reaching 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list recent – McConaughey revealed he never planned on writing a children’s book… until a dream he had one night
‘And I woke, and it was a good dream, and as you do in good dreams when you don’t want them to end, you try to keep the rhythm of the thought, right? So I get up and I write all this stuff down. I write about 200 couplets, 30 of which made it into this version, ’cause this is a younger person version,’ he explained.
‘And I looked at and I found those 30 I was like, “Hey this is some stuff that my children are going through. This is some stuff that I hear my kids’ friends talk about they’re going through. This is some stuff that I hear parents that are friends of mine saying, my kids are going through this.” So, that’s what’s in the book,’ he explained.
Host Jimmy Fallon asked McConaughey what his kids – Levi, 15, Vida, 13, and Livingston, 10 – thought of the book.
‘The kids dig it, I’ve got — my daughter’s very visual, she loves the illustrations, which Renee Kurilla did, who’s in the audience today,’ he added.
‘My eldest and I have talked about similar scenarios that he’s going through now in his teenage years. My youngest is still sort of holding out to tell me if he likes it or not, but that’s just kind of his character,’ the actor said with a smile.
Earlier in the interview, McConaughey asked Fallon if, ‘we did all right’ with his book Greenlights, prompting Fallon to ask if he can even say that anymore, since his first ever movie character – David Wooderson from Dazed and Confused – said it many times in the iconic movie.
McConaughey responded, ‘People ask me all the time, “Do you get tired of that?” I said, “No, it’s the first three words I ever said on film 32 years ago and it precedes me. I thought I might just have a one night hobby, it turned into a career. Please say it!’
Last month, McConaughey was in New York City to promote Just Because, when his wife Camila Alves gave the actor and writer quite the surprise.
Dream: ‘And I woke, and it was a good dream, and as you do in good dreams when you don’t want them to end, you try to keep the rhythm of the thought, right? So I get up and I write all this stuff down. I write about 200 couplets, 30 of which made it into this version, ’cause this is a younger person version,’ he explained
30: ‘And I looked at and I found those 30 I was like, “Hey this is some stuff that my children are going through. This is some stuff that I hear my kids’ friends talk about they’re going through. This is some stuff that I hear parents that are friends of mine saying, my kids are going through this.” So, that’s what’s in the book,’ he explained
Illustrations: ‘The kids dig it, I’ve got — my daughter’s very visual, she loves the illustrations, which Renee Kurilla did, who’s in the audience today,’ he added
All right: Earlier in the interview, McConaughey asked Fallon if, ‘we did all right’ with his book Greenlights, prompting Fallon to ask if he can even say that anymore, since his first ever movie character – David Wooderson from Dazed and Confused – said it many times in the iconic movie
First lines: McConaughey responded, ‘People ask me all the time, “Do you get tired of that?” I said, “No, it’s the first three words I ever said on film 32 years ago and it precedes me. I thought I might just have a one night hobby, it turned into a career. Please say it!’
‘So I didn’t even know I was in the Empire State Building I’m doing the press tour for the book, I’m pointing to shoot. Tell me where to go, my head’s down, tell me who to talk to and I walk in this building and I think I’m going to go into another interview,’ he said.
‘There’s my wife with a whole bunch of cameramen and camerawomen and my journalist, she says “Read this. And I’m like, “What’s going on?”‘ he added.
‘And I read it and it says, “I wrote ‘Greenlights’ three years ago. Little did I know that we’d be coming up on 100 weeks on the bestseller list. In congratulations of that, the Empire State Building is lighting itself green tonight,”‘ McConaughey explained, as they showed the photo of th Empire State Building lit up green.
He added, ‘That’s one of those things that’s like, on your bucket list, but you don’t even know to put it on your bucket list.
