Reese Witherspoon Sends Message to Matthew McConaughey as His Book Releases

Matthew McConaughey has shown up everywhere while promoting his new book Greenlights, but he got some extra publicity on Wednesday courtesy of Reese Witherspoon. The Big Little Lies star shared a photo taken when making Jeff Nichols’ 2012 film Mud together and provided her review of the new book. McConaughey made several surprising admissions in the book and during the press tour, even telling Oprah Winfrey that he almost quit acting to become a high school football coach.

“Proud of my buddy [McConaughey] who just wrote a great book about his journey to become an actor, filmmaker, husband, and father,” Witherspoon wrote on Instagram. She teased a conversation with McConaughey on the Greenlights website, hosted by Book Passage in San Francisco on Friday. McConaughey has already done virtual tour stops with former co-stars Kate Hudson and Woody Harrelson and has one planned with Ethan Hawke on Nov. 7.

McConaughey also stopped by Apple+’s The Oprah Conversation for a chat with Winfrey, who asked him about his attempts to break free from the romantic comedy roles he was saddled with during the 2000s. The 50-year-old star said the parts he was getting at that point were “not nearly as vital as my life,” so he took a 20-month break from working to be with his now-wife Camila and start a family.

Winfrey asked McConaughey how long he was ready to take a break before taking another rom-com role just to work again. “No, I was in,” McConaughey said, noting he considered different jobs if all Hollywood wanted from him was to make more romantic comedies. “I dabbled thinking being a high school football coach,” McConaughey said, reports Yahoo Entertainment. McConaughey is a Texas Longhorn fan and played a high school football coach in 2005’s We Are Marshall.

McConaughey said he also considered being a “symphony orchestra leader,” a wildlife guide, or a teacher. The actor stayed firm, though, and believed he was making the right decision. “I was starting to get that feeling that the harder this gets, this means there is more reward on the other side,” he said. McConaughey did change his career path by 2011 when he started being offered more serious roles. He went on a successful run in the early 2010s that resulted in him winning an Oscar for 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club and earning acclaim for HBO’s True Detective.