They are the first words he said on film and he’s still proud of them.
Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey uttered his now catchphrase, “all right, all right, all right” as the first line he said as Wooderson in Richard Linklater’s 1993 coming of age movie “Dazed and Confused” and he did it straight off the top of his head.
Speaking to Good Morning America, the actor explained how nervous he was as it was the very first scene he’d ever been in and this particular one wasn’t scripted for him. The director (Linklater) told him to ad-lib.
“I’d been listening to a lot of The Doors, this one live album. Jim Morison starts barking at the crowd between one of the songs, ‘all right, all right, all right, all right.’ He says it four times,” McConaughey explained.
He said with Morrison’s words in his head he started thinking, “well what is my character Wooderson all about?”
“He’s about rock ’n’ roll. He’s about his car. He’s about getting high,” he said. “So I heard action and in my mind I go, ‘the other thing he’s about is picking up chicks.’ I’ve got three of the four things he’s about so let me give three ‘all rights.’ Three affirmations. It set the tone for the scene and the character.”
The “Dallas Buyer’s Club” actor loves how the line has stuck around.
“It puts a smile on people’s faces,” he said. “Anytime you throw three “all rights” in front of whatever you’re saying, odds are it’s going to be a bit of a better time.”
Related
McConaughey last appeared on screen in a voice role as Buster Moon in 2021’s “Sing 2.”
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