Matthew McConaughey loves making ads.
Inside his trailer near Uber Eats’ Super Bowl ad shoot, he can’t sit still as he describes the challenge of shaping a plot to fit within a 30- or 60-second window. He jumps up off the couch to reenact scenes, snaps his fingers rhythmically to illustrate the precision needed for comedic timing to work, and claps his hands loudly to signal a sudden shift in narrative strategy.
“For these scenes to work, especially in the comedy, it’s rhythm, and it’s timing, and it’s punch,” he tells ADWEEK, snapping his fingers.
The following conversation has been condensed and edited for flow and clarity.
ADWEEK: How do you decide whether to do an ad or not?
Matthew McConaughey: Does the ad reinforce some values I believe in and not siphon off of my credibility?
What reinforces my values? Pantalones Tequila. Someone’s gonna go, ‘How is tequila a value?’ Me and my wife, it’s our favorite drink together. I hold that valuable in my life.
Sometimes, I’m doing it because it’s philanthropic, a PSA. I love a good PSA. Whether it’s clean water, Covid, clean air. Hell, I’d do a PSA for pickles. I love pickles.
Sometimes I do it because it’s American-made and I like the product: Lincoln.
I do ads because I like sales and it’s good money.
What about Uber Eats?
There are a lot of ads where the first script’s not good, and you have to rewrite, rewrite, and find it.
The Uber Eats ads come in, you get the concept immediately.
Uber does something that I haven’t seen anybody do: They create an immense amount of the little socials that are funny that lead up to the entree. And they ladle it into the production. A prelude to the platter.
If those can become meme-able, it’s about measurement. These ads are direct to the consumer as they’re sitting there. Watch it, yep, yeah, I’m hungry—call Uber Eats.
And, I’m getting to work with Bradley [Cooper]. We hadn’t worked together since Failure to Launch.
You’re also reunited with Parker Posey, who you worked with on Dazed and Confused. What’s it like working with her now?
