Matthew McConaughey has made a nice career for himself in acting. He’s won an Oscar, starred in a Christopher Nolan movie, and has a standing invitation to be on the sideline of any University of Texas football game. Acting has given him a lot, but he wasn’t sure whether he wanted that to be something his children ever got into.
Now, as he prepares to appear alongside his son Levi in The Last Bus, which will be available with an Apple TV+ subscription on October 3rd, the actor is opening up about why he felt that way. McConaughey spoke to People about why he originally didn’t want his children getting into acting, and what changed his mind:
I was open. The first 15 years in Hollywood I was like, ‘I’d never want my kid to grow up in the business.’ And when I hit about 40, right about the time we had Levi, I looked around at how many special people I’ve met in my life, how much travel and what an awesome, healthy, cool experience that’s been for me in my life. I was like, ‘Where are you coming up with this idea you don’t want any of your kids to do it?’ It’d be a privilege if they would be able to.
Listen, if acting didn’t have an upside, there wouldn’t be so many nepo babies in Hollywood. That said, I feel like Matthew McConaughey is trying to make sure his son doesn’t have those kind of haters in the business, as he reportedly had Levi remove his last name from his audition tape. Honestly, I’d be a little miffed if I were his son, especially after writing that heartfelt card that was released publicly. However, he landed the role anyway, so no harm, no foul.
Matthew McConaughey and his wife Camila Alves moved back to Texas years ago and remain happily married after 13 years. He’s maintained a healthy marriage thanks to his theory about King-size beds, and raised three children with his wife: Levi, Vida, and Livingston.
With Levi breaking into the spotlight, I have to wonder if in the coming years, we’ll see his other siblings embark on their own journeys in acting as well. Maybe they can just have it be a family tradition that every time one of them makes a foray into Hollywood, they all agree to appear in their first major project together? I’ll be honest, that’d be “alright, alright, alright” with me if it happened. I know, I held off on making the joke as long as I could.
There is a miniature family reunion in The Last Bus beyond the father/son duo. Matthew McConaughey’s mother, Kay, will also appear in the movie, after they took an eight-year “hiatus” in real life. According to the actor, this was due to her inability to take anything he told her in confidence to tabloids to report. Someone should make a movie about that!
Until then, see Levi Alves McConaughey and his father in The Last Bus on Apple TV+ starting October 3rd. I’m certainly interested in checking it out to see if his acting style is anything like his father’s or if he brings a little something new to the table that Pops wasn’t hip to.
