Entertainment · Celebrity · 3 hrs ago
Matthew McConaughey spent two days reading his harshest reviews
Matthew McConaughey spent two days reading 20 years of negative reviews in the West Texas desert.
He did this around 2018 or 2019 while writing his memoir, *Greenlights*.
Reading the reviews helped him tell personal dislike from useful feedback about his acting.
Some critics, he said, seemed set against him regardless of his work.
Other reviews pointed to choices he could have improved, even when their writers liked his work.
He says useful criticism can help people learn, while not every negative comment deserves the same weight.
The experience shaped how he thinks about criticism, though no further action was described.
Matthew McConaughey spent two days in the West Texas desert reading a collection of negative reviews spanning about 20 years.
He said the exercise took place around 2018 or 2019 while he was writing his memoir, Greenlights.
McConaughey said he learned to distinguish personal attacks from criticism that could help him improve his performances.
He discussed the experience on the Build or Break podcast.
- Who
- Matthew McConaughey, an actor.
- What
- He spent two days reading a collection of negative reviews of his work and said the experience helped him distinguish useful feedback from personal dislike.
- When
- Around 2018 or 2019; he discussed it on an October 13 episode of the Build or Break podcast.
- Where
- In the West Texas desert, near Marfa, according to InfoMoney.
- Why
- He wanted to confront criticism and learn to identify feedback that could help him improve.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
McConaughey went to the West Texas desert with a collection of negative reviews while writing Greenlights.
He had finished reading the reviews and said the experience helped him separate personal dislike from constructive criticism.
McConaughey discussed the experience on the Build or Break podcast.
- Reviews
- About 20 years of negative reviews
- Time spent reading
- Two days
- Location
- West Texas desert, near Marfa
- Memoir
- Greenlights
- Podcast
- Build or Break, October 13
3 sources
What people are saying
It was hard.
This person’s got a point.
Some are going to write bad about you and wish you the worst no matter what, because they just don’t like you from afar and don’t like your success, what have you.
Some are really a good critic who will write constructively about what you did wrong, and you can learn from it.