Matthew McConaughey will always be one of the most beloved treasures in Austin as well as Texas in general. The actor has become a massive success, winning an Academy Award for Dallas Buyers Club, getting a Golden Globe nomination for his role in the TV show True Detective plus countless other accolades over the years. So it's fun to look back to the early '90s when the world first got a glimpse of McConaughey and his iconic Southern drawl.
Richard Linklater's comedy Dazed and Confused, which followed a group of high school kids on the last day of school, has become a cult classic since it was released in 1993. It was filmed all over the city of Austin where McConaughey was a student at the University of Texas. As the story goes, the future star and his girlfriend at the time went out on a random Thursday to grab drinks at the Hyatt hotel bar. It was the same bar where casting director Don Phillips was enjoying drinks. McConaughey introduced himself and they spent hours drinking together. The UT student wasn't going to film school, but it was pretty obvious he had something special. Phillips suggested he come audition for the role of Wooderson.
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Initially, Linklater thought McConaughey was a lot cooler than he imagined the stoner character but in his audition, McConaughey transformed into Wooderson before Linklater's eyes and he knew he'd found his guy. At the time, McConaughey thought it was just a fun summer job but it ended up being his breakout role into Hollywood.
Watch Matthew McConaughey as he watches his Dazed and Confused audition tape for the first time in the above clip and films his reaction for social media. You'll definitely find yourself smiling while watching the actor see himself so many years ago in a moment that unquestionably changed his life.
"Nice! Look at that. So, that audition, which I've never seen, was my audition for Dazed and Confused," he says. "Which I'm sitting here now watching and I go, man, that was 1992. 28 years ago. You thought you might just have a little three-day job for a summer hobby. And 28 years later, I still got a little summer job that turned into a career."
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