McConaughey passed on Guardians of the Galaxy for The Dark Tower

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

I've been a fan of Matthew McConaughey for over twenty years, ever since I first saw him in Richard Linklater's DAZED AND CONFUSED. That said, I haven't always been enthusiastic about his career choices – there was a stretch where I was very disappointed with the sort of movies he was signing on for. Thankfully, the sub-par rom-com days appear to be behind him now, and in recent years he has moved into a much more interesting era in his career. With projects like KILLER JOE and True Detective, we're seeing a McConaughey I've always been hoping to see.

Now McConaughey is fielding offers for all sorts of projects that are extremely appealing to me, projects like DOCTOR STRANGE, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2, and THE DARK TOWER – so many offers that he needs to be rather picky about what he actually does. The example is right there: he didn't do DOCTOR STRANGE or GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2, but he does play the villainous Man in Black in THE DARK TOWER.

In a new interview with Playboy, McConaughey revealed why he decided to play the Man in Black rather than take a role in GUARDIANS 2 –

I like Guardians of the Galaxy, but what I saw was “It’s successful, and now we’ve got room to make a colorful part for another big-name actor.” I’d feel like an amendment. The Dark Tower script was well written, I like the director and his take on it, and I can be the creator, the author of the Man in Black—a.k.a. the Devil—in my version of this Stephen King novel. We’ve done the first one. It’s a fantastic thriller that takes place in another realm, an alternate universe, but it’s very much grounded. For instance, the gunslinger’s weapon isn’t a lightsaber or something; it’s a pistol. I enjoyed approaching my character as if I were the Devil having a good time, getting turned on by exposing human hypocrisies wherever he finds them.

While I would have been overjoyed to see McConaughey turn up in the Marvel space adventure sequel, I can definitely understand his decision. The Man in Black role gave him more to sink his teeth into, and I can't wait to see what he has done with the character.

Directed by Nikolaj Arcel from a screenplay he wrote with Anders Thomas Jensen, Akiva Goldsman, and Jeff Pinkner, THE DARK TOWER is based on the popular book series written by Stephen King and serves as something of a sequel to King's novels. The story follows

a wandering knight who is the last hope of the fallen land of Mid-World. He is charged with finding the Dark Tower while battling his nemesis the Man in Black.

Idris Elba plays that "wandering knight", the gunslinger Roland Deschain. Elba and McConaughey's co-stars include Tom Taylor, Fran Kranz, Jackie Earle Haley, Katheryn Winnick, and Abbey Lee.

We'll get to see just what McConaughey did with the Man in Black when THE DARK TOWER reaches theatres on July 28, 2017.