'It was hard': Matthew McConaughey once 'spent two days' in the desert reading bad reviews about himself
Matthew McConaughy has revealed he once decided to spend 48 hours reading negative reviews about his work.
Matthew McConaughey once "spent two days" in the desert reading bad reviews about himself.
The 56-year-old actor has admitted he gained a better understanding of how much stock he should place in reviews of his work after bringing together 20 years of negative press for a solo trip.
Appearing on the Build or Break podcast, he said: "[I] went away to the desert for a week and I took them all in this big thick book. I read every one. All the negative reviews — I’m sorry, not all the positive reviews, the negative ones.
“And I sat, and it’s all I [did], I spent two days with them. It was hard. Some of the reviews, what I learned, is that from the very first sentence, ‘Oh, this person has it out for me.’
"It didn’t matter whether they saw the movie or not. They just don’t like me. They were going to write a negative review.”
There were some reviews where Matthew appreciated that the critic had something to say, and it wasn't coming from a deliberate place.
He explained: "Other reviews I saw, I was like, ‘This person’s got a point. They’re actually a fan of mine, and they didn’t get from my performance what I was actually hoping they would have got. Where did I fail in the choice?’
"Because this is constructive criticism. This person is a good critic. They were looking at the work and objectively criticising it.
"Applauding some things, but also applauded some things that shined a light on where I came up short. Okay. What can I learn from that?”
