{"id":45858,"date":"2026-08-15T04:08:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T23:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=45858"},"modified":"2026-08-15T04:08:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T23:08:06","slug":"matthew-mcconaughey-on-the-time-he-helped-catch-a-murderer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=45858","title":{"rendered":"Matthew McConaughey on the Time He Helped Catch a Murderer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/matthew-mcconaughey\/\" id=\"auto-tag_matthew-mcconaughey\" data-tag=\"matthew-mcconaughey\">Matthew McConaughey<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/film\/features\/matthew-mcconaughey-rivals-of-amziah-king-brothers-1236833422\/\">is officially back<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOn Friday afternoon, the revered actor descended upon Filmland, an annual film festival in Little Rock, Arkansas, to receive the Variety Legend &amp; Groundbreaker Award as well as present a screening of his latest film, <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2025\/film\/reviews\/the-rivals-of-amziah-king-review-matthew-mcconaughey-1236333554\/\">\u201cThe Rivals of Amziah King,\u201d<\/a> wherein he stars as a honey-maker who finds himself roped into a criminal plot. Directed by Andrew Patterson, and marking the <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/lists\/young-hollywood-impact-report-2026-inde-navarrette-connor-storrie-hudson-williams-ishowspeed\/\">stellar debut of co-star Angelina LookingGlass<\/a>, \u201cThe Rivals of Amziah King\u201d is the first film McConaughey shot in five years, and our critic said it marks a welcome return for the actor, with the role fitting him \u201clike a glove\u201d while also being \u201cdifferent from anything he\u2019s every done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tPrior to the screening, the Oscar-winning actor sat down for a conversation with filmmaker Jeff Nichols, a Little Rock native and co-founder of both the Arkansas Cinema Society and its film festival, Filmland, as well as the man who directed McConaughey in 2012\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2012\/film\/markets-festivals\/mud-1117947649\/\">\u201cMud,\u201d<\/a> which marked the beginning of what became known as the \u201cMcConaissance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tMcConaughey, 56, was his usual charming, gregarious self, regaling the crowd at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts with tales from the set, including his unforgettable film debut in Richard Linklater\u2019s 1993 cult classic \u201cDazed and Confused\u201d and working with <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/christopher-nolan\/\" id=\"auto-tag_christopher-nolan\" data-tag=\"christopher-nolan\">Christopher Nolan<\/a> on 2014\u2019s \u201cInterstellar.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cChristopher Nolan came to me because of \u2018Mud,\u2019\u201d McConaughey told Nichols, since Nolan apparently got to screen an early cut of \u201cMud,\u201d owing to a relationship with one of its producers, Aaron Ryder.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAnd McConaughey had nothing but glowing praise for <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/lists\/the-odyssey-ranking-performances-christopher-nolan-tom-holland-matt-damon-robert-pattinson-zendaya\/\">\u201cThe Odyssey\u201d director<\/a> concerning their time together working on \u201cInterstellar.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cHe\u2019s an absolute general, but he\u2019s first there and last to leave, and literally first up the mountain and last down the mountain. It\u2019s hard, it\u2019s long, it\u2019s a full commitment,\u201d said McConaughey, adding, \u201cYou don\u2019t see a phone on that set. There\u2019s no checking out with the outside world. You are <em>consumed<\/em>.\u201d But he was also quick to note that Nolan \u201chas a great sense of humor\u2026 without trying to be funny.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOne of the most surprising revelations concerned McConaughey\u2019s screen debut in an episode of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/unsolved-mysteries\/\" id=\"auto-tag_unsolved-mysteries\" data-tag=\"unsolved-mysteries\">Unsolved Mysteries<\/a>\u201d that aired Dec. 2, 1992. McConaughey played Larry Dean Dickens, a Marine in Pasadena, Texas, who confronted a man, Edward Harold Bell, who was exposing himself to children. During the confrontation, which occurred back in August of 1978, Bell shot Dickens with a pistol, and then went back to his truck, grabbed a rifle, and shot him in the forehead, killing him. Bell then escaped to Mexico and Central America, where he was on the run for 14 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tViewers recognized Bell from the reenactment in the \u201cUnsolved Mysteries\u201d episode and, on Feb. 14, 1993, a joint operation between the FBI and Panamanian National Police led to the capture of Bell in Panama City. Bell admitted to committing 11 murders, but was only convicted of Dickens\u2019. He died in a Texas prison in 2019 at the age of 79. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tCue McConaughey, who cracked: \u201cI\u2019m gonna toot my own horn a little bit. The \u2018Unsolved Mysteries\u2019 episode I did? They caught the guy weeks later \u2014 based on what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew McConaughey is officially back. On Friday afternoon, the revered actor descended upon Filmland, an annual film festival in Little Rock, Arkansas, to receive the Variety Legend &amp; Groundbreaker Award as well as present a screening of his latest film, \u201cThe Rivals of Amziah King,\u201d wherein he stars as a honey-maker who finds himself roped&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2289953896.jpg?crop=0px%2C0px%2C2315px%2C1302px&resize=1000%2C563","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}