Matthew McConaughey has made “Alright, alright, alright” his catchphrase this awards season, ending with him winning an Oscar for his role in Dallas Buyer’s Club. The line is from his breakout role in Dazed and Confused and he admits Jim Morrison was an inspiration for that character.
McConaughey appeared on the Canadian talk show George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight and gave a little backstory as to the origins of that phrase.
“Right before we're about to shoot, I've been listening to this live Doors album and between two of the songs, Morrison goes, 'Alright, Alright, Alright, Alright,'" he explained, Design & Trend reports.
The improvised line has become one of the staples in his career and he explained more details about it, saying he was trying to get in the headspace of his character David Wooderson.
“What is Wooderson about?" he recalls asking himself. "I go, 'He's about four things: His car, he's about gettin' high, he's about rock n' roll, and he's about picking up chicks.' I go, 'I'm in my car, I'm high as a kite, I'm listening to rock n' roll.' Action! And here's the chick, 'Alright, Alright, Alright.' Three out of four."
He admitted it’s now sort of something he says to ground himself, noting it “kickstarts me into gratitude.” He repeated it during his speech for Best Actor at the Academy Awards this year, so that makes sense.
"It was the first words I ever said on film and it's sort of a callback to the beginning of my career at a time when I was doing it and I didn't know it would be a career,” he said.
image courtesy of ABC