10 Things We Learned From Matthew McConaughey On The Joe Rogan Experience
6. His Body Altered In Unusual Ways During His Preparation For Dallas Buyers Club
With the role being McConaughey's most famous and critically acclaimed as of writing, you knew it would only be a matter of time before Rogan quizzed the star on his dramatic physical transformation for the part of AIDS patient Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club.
The actor declared that he dropped all the way down to 135lbs (from 188lbs) to play Woodroof. However, he didn't class the weight loss as torture. He simply stated that he was militant and the hardest part was deciding he was going to do it in the first place. He also stated that it was his responsibility to make himself appear as believable as possible in Woodroof's shoes or people would tune out as soon as they saw him appear on screen.
McConaughey then revealed that he gave himself five months to lose the weight. He also astoundingly lived off a diet of egg whites, fish, vegetables and (wait for it!) as much wine as he wanted. This eventually resulted in the shockingly slim figure he cut in the film.
Remarkably, the actor also said that whatever power he lost from the neck down - his knees would buckle when he sprinted at that weight - he gained in mental sharpness, stating that he felt "clinically smart" at that stage.
Also, when asked how long it took him to recover from the role, he laughed and admitted "I'm still recovering", proving just how much of a toll these game-changing roles have on performers of McConaughey's calibre long after they've put them in the rear-view mirror.