D Dipasupil/FilmMagicMatthew McConaughey is having an amazing year.
Not only has the Hollywood hunk been turning in the most acclaimed performances of his career this year with Killer Joe and The Paperboy, but Magic Mike, his little stripper movie with Channing Tatum, was a surprise hit at the box office and snagged him a Best Supporting Actor nomination at last night's Critics Choice Awards.
E! News' own Marc Malkin caught up with the 43-year-old McConaughey on the red carpet, and he let us in on how he prepared for that role and got shockingly skinny to play real-life AIDS patient Ron Woodruff in the forthcoming film The Dallas Buyer's Club.
On his Critics Choice nod (which he later lost to Philip Seymour Hoffman), the thesp said he was taken aback, but knew "we were making something original."
"I never seen a male stripper movie before," said McConaughey. "One time, we did an hour of research and that was enough for me."
Elaborating on the field work he did, Matthew revealed he and his costar were in New Orleans and decided to check out one little "carny"-like place in a strip mall.
"We're talking to these guys at the bar," he recounted. "One was a lawyer and one was back home from across seas serving in the army and another was a computer geek, and 10 minutes later they go, 'OK, we gotta go.' And five minutes after that, they were the guys coming out onstage. We were laughing…it was a hoot, man."
On starving himself for The Dallas Buyer's Club, McConaughey described the experience as a "surprising adventure."
"I went from [Magic Mike] directly to losing…47 pounds was my lowest, and now I'm coming back," McConaughey noted. "I'm 22 pounds heavier than that. It's been fun for me, man. Those have been personal adventures for me. It's a kickass story, man, and I think we told it well."
Last but not least, the Dazed and Confused star revealed that his mom wasn't too thrilled about his ultra-thin appearance, not to mention his more flashy part in Magic Mike.
"I think maybe she thought her son was exposing too much or something. And I was like, 'You've always been an exhibitionist, mom!" he said, adding, "Oh jeez, I just gave you all a quote. I'm gonna read that right there, 'Matthew's mom is an exhibitionist.'..You better put 'Laugh, ha ha' at the end of that or I'm gonna be gettin' calls and it's gonna be a pain in the ass all week."
This one's for you, Matthew. Laugh, ha ha.