Matthew McConaughey discusses True Detective: Night Country (Photo Credit – Facebook)
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Matthew McConaughey spent years in Hollywood before hitting his stride in his mid-40s. In 2014, Dallas Buyers Club earned the Texan actor an Academy Award for Best Actor, marking an end to his Dazed and Confused days.
McConaughey also added The Wolf of Wall Street and Interstellar to his catalog around the same time, though it was True Detective Season 1 that became a cultural phenomenon for decades to come. That role enunciated a late-career boost, its warm reception inducing a turning point. After a six-year break from acting, McConaughey resurfaces with The Rivals of Amziah King due later this year, though it’s his affection for the HBO crime anthology that has delighted the True Detective fandom.
While speaking to Variety about the crime series, the Dazed and Confused star was asked whether he would be ‘alright’ with sharing his honest opinion on True Detective: Night Country, the latest mixed affair added to the otherwise acclaimed series. McConaughey cautiously answered, “I watched, I saw it. Yeah, there’s a lot about it that I appreciated.” He then ventured, “My favorite season, and I feel like I can say this objectively, is Season 1. I happen to be in that one, so I thought that was great television and a fine series.”
The actor even admitted to having watched his show “weekly, like everyone else, on Sunday night,” and that it was an event for him. “I enjoyed the water cooler talk on Monday morning,” he went on. “Even though I made it, I sort of forgot what was going to happen next. It was one of the great events in TV.” And the legacy that season left behind undisputedly consolidates McConaughey’s views.
True Detective Season 1 stars Matthew McConaughey with Woody Harrelson, his lifelong pal, and follows detectives Rustin Cohle and Marty Hart chasing a sadistic serial killer. Conceived by Nic Pizzolatto, Cohle’s grim characterization was acclaimed, earning McConaughey a Golden Globe nod.
McConaughey’s predisposition aligns with the general consensus, as the subsequent seasons of True Detective failed to surmount or even recreate the standard set by Season 1. HBO eventually jettisoned Pizzolatto, replacing him with Issa López, who helmed the recently released Season 4, Night Country, starring Jodie Foster. While the latest addition garnered critical commendation, with many asseverating it rivals the quality of the inaugural run, audiences recoiled, deeming it as middling as its predecessors.
True Detective Season 4’s reception has been deemed ostensible, predisposing that tokenism might precipitate dishonesty when critics commend works by women and minorities based on gender or ethnicity instead of quality. Wearing kid gloves in reviews due to backlash and fears of cancellation vexes as a trend that stands as discrimination in and of itself.
