Matthew McConaughey lost 50 pounds for his role in the film Dallas Buyers Club, premiering to critical raves at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The 43-year-old actor plays Ron Woodroof, a homophobic electrician who became an unlikely pioneer for alternative AIDS treatments in the 1980s.
He says the weight loss wasn’t the biggest challenge.
“I had plenty of energy,” the actor said this weekend. “Ron’s dealing with different variations of rage. I’m much more of a diplomat myself,” he joked.
The fact-based film tracks Woodroof, who was given just 30 days to live by doctors in the mid-1980s when his HIV diagnosis first came in.
But his survival instinct kicks in, followed by his entrepreneurial spirit.
Before long, Woodroof is importing unapproved medicines from various overseas countries as an alternative to the FDA-sanctioned AZT, which he thinks is poison.
Along the way he also forms some unlikely bonds, including with the AIDS-afflicted Rayon, a cross-dresser who becomes Woodroof’s ally.
Check out the video above for more from the Dallas Buyers Club actor …