Matthew McConaughey’s transformation from being the headliner of multiple rom-coms to being an Academy Award-winning dramatic actor is one of Hollywood’s greatest resurgence stories. The actor has been a part of many modern-day classics such as The Wolf of Wall Street, Interstellar, and the TV series True Detective.
While the actor‘s reinvention has yielded great results, it has also led to a couple of box-office duds. One of his most infamous ventures into dramatic territory that went straight to DVD was Killer Joe. However, the reason for its failure is one particular scene that gave the film an NC-17 rating, effectively sealing its future at the box office.
Matthew McConaughey’s ‘McConaissance’ With Killer Joe
Until 2011, Mathew McCanaughey was the poster boy for romantic comedies. The actor starred in multiple successful rom-coms such as Ghosts of Girlfriend’s Past, Fool’s Gold, Failure To Launch, and How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. However, despite the success, the actor felt that he was being typecast. So, he reinvented himself.
In what has been dubbed the ‘McConaissance’, Matthew McConaughey’s shift to dramatic territory started with The Lincoln Lawyer, which was a moderate success at the box office and opened to positive reviews. The film was the beginning of the actor’s dramatic shift, which ultimately led to his phenomenal performance in Dallas Buyer’s Club. His performance as an AIDS-affected man in the 80s earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Since then, the actor has appeared in a number of films such as Interstellar and The Gentlemen.
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One of McConaughey’s early dramatic roles was his collaboration with late director William Freidkin in the black comedy Killer Joe. The film, with its whacky premise of a family hiring a contract killer for a life insurance scam, was a box office failure. The film only earned a meager $4.5 million against a $9.6 million budget and was only released in 75 theatres. This was mainly due to its NC-17 rating which only allows adults to view the film, which many in the industry consider to be a death sentence. The rating was given to the film based on a disturbing scene with a fried chicken.
The Fried Chicken That Ended Killer Joe
William Friedkin’s Killer Joe followed the story of an in-debt family who hire a hitman to kill the mother so they could use the life insurance money. However, things take a turn when the hitman, played by Matthew McConaughey, demands that he keep Dottie, the daughter as a ‘retainer’ and they start a relationship.
The black comedy received an NC-17 rating due to its graphic depiction of violence. One particular scene marred controversy which director Freidkin refused to cut. The scene reportedly involved a fried chicken being used to torture the family by the hitman.
When asked why he would not cut the scene out in order to get an R-rating, Friedkin said,
“Cutting would not have made it mass appeal. Cutting it would have been the equivalent of what members of the United States government and military leaders said about the Vietnam War. They said, “We have to destroy Vietnam in order to save it,” and that’s what I would have done to Killer Joe. To get an R rating, I would have had to destroy it in order to save it and I wasn’t interested in doing that.”
The film was eventually released to select theatres and was a box office bomb. Despite its premieres in prestigious film festivals such as the Venice International Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, and the Fantasia Film Festival, the film was pushed to DVD. However, the film did receive positive responses and is considered one of Matthew McConaughey’s best performances.
Killer Joe is available for rent on Apple TV.
Source: The Digital Fix
