Early in his career, Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey dabbled in his first-ever franchise: the world of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (originally released as The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre), McConaughey starred alongside Renée Zellweger in a low-budget reinvention of the gory horror brand that failed to set the world on fire and has generally been a punchline in the pair’s otherwise stellar careers. During a recent interview, McConaughey recalled in detail a story that he has shared the basics of before: how he went from having a one-day, walk-away role to a significant role in the slasher sequel.
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McConaughey recounts getting the part after college, not long after having filmed Dazed and Confused. This tracks, since in a recent oral history of Dazed and Confused by author Melissa Maerz, numerous co-stars relate stories of McConaughey getting opportunities almost instantly after finding an agent in Texas.
“I had already done Dazed and Confused the summer before, in Austin, Texas,” McConaughey explained in a video posted to his YouTube page. “Now I went back to school, graduated, and had my U-Haul packed up. Just as I was about to drive out to Hollywood, I got offered this role in this horror picture, Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It was a one-day role. A guy who rides up on a motorcycle at the beginning of the movie, sees Renée Zellweger’s character on school campus, she sees him, he rides off. She goes through her night of hell, and almost gets killed, and the next day at school he rides back up, she sees him, jumps on the motorcycle, they ride off. No lines. Just sort of Romeo to Juliet character.”
You can see the full video below.
“I go to the production office, I’m talking to the director, Kim Henkel, and he says, ‘Matthew, do you have anybody in mind who could play the lead killer, Vilmer’ – the guy who drives the tow truck, hangs the kids up on a winch, has a mechanical leg,” McConaughey continued. “And I gave him a couple names of local actors I knew. As I got to the curb to get in my truck, which already had my U-Haul packed up, I said, ‘I should try for that role.’ So I went back down the sidewalk, went in, I said, ‘I want to try out for the role of Vilmer.’ The girl that was the secretary goes, ‘I’ll do it!’ I ran to the kitchen, grabbed a big table spoon out of the drawer, came back in, and just pinned her in a corner and acted like it was a weapon. And did it until she cried. And they yelled ‘Cut,’ and Kim was like, ‘That was good.’ And the girl was like, ‘Yeah, that was really good. You really scared me.’ And Kim goes, ‘Do you want the part?’”
And the rest is history. Alright, alright, alright.
