- Matthew McConaughey discussed his break from acting ahead of starring in a new "Yellowstone" spinoff.
- He said on "Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard" that being back on set "sounds like a vacation."
Matthew McConaughey has spoken about making his return to acting after a three-year break away from screens.
Appearing on the podcast "Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard" on Monday, the 53-year-old actor said that being back on set "sounds like a vacation," although he did not explicitly mention his now-confirmed role in an as-yet-untitled "Yellowstone" spinoff.
"What are we doing with acting, Matthew? Where are we at?" Shepard asked McConaughey.
"What are we doing with acting? Well, the last few years I had a really wonderful time getting rid of a lot of those filters that come with acting," he said.
"When you're fortunate enough to get a job, you're playing another character, someone else's script, directed by someone else, lens in a camera by someone else, edited by someone else, before our own expression is shared."
"The writing of the book got rid of four of those filters for me. There's the written word so there's still one of those filters," he continued, referring to his 2020 memoir, "Greenlights."
However, the actor said that he's now readying himself to make a return to acting.
"I am now becoming more interested in actually going to play another character in a movie or a TV show because all of the last four years of culminating and writing and getting these things together and getting more into some public service," said McConaughey.
"The idea of going to act in the right role or the right movie, film, or series right now, I'll be a different or improved actor in my own right after these last three years."
He added: "To go have some structure like, 'I got a call time, I've got lines, I've got scenes, I've got a character.' The sounds like a vacation right now to me."
McConaughey's last acting role was in "The Gentleman" (2019), although he has worked as a voice actor for various projects, including "Sing 2" (2021) and the recently released Netflix series "Agent Elvis."
His comments come after Paramount Media Networks president Chris McCarthy confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that a spinoff of the popular series starring the "True Detective" is moving forward after several months of speculation.
It had been previously reported by Deadline that "Yellowstone" could be ending sooner than expected due to disagreements with lead actor Kevin Costner over shooting schedules and replaced by a new series starring McConaughey, which would potentially include several of the flagship series' main cast.
The outlet reported that it was one of more than 10 projects that "Yellowstone" universe co-creator and showrunner Taylor Sheridan has lined up for the network.
As for Costner's future, McCarthy didn't have any updates to share, but days later at PaleyFest LA, Paramount Network's president of development and production, Keith Cox, confirmed that the John Dutton actor isn't going anywhere any time soon.