Matthew McConaughey recently shared an interesting story about his involvement in the 1994’s slasher Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation. In a video posted on his official YouTube channel, McConaughey revealed that he originally joined the project in a minor role and only got to star as killer Vilmer Slaughter after terrifying the director Kim Henkel’s secretary with a spoon.
According to McConaughey, he was initially supposed to be on set for one day, playing an unnamed character who appears only at the beginning and end of the movie and doesn’t have any lines. He met with Henkel, and during their conversation, the director mentioned that the role of the killer is still vacant and asked the actor to recommend someone.
McConaughey mentioned some names before leaving the office but quickly returned. He asked Henkel if he could read for the role himself, and luckily, the director was open to the idea.
Since there were no actresses around, Henkel’s secretary volunteered to read with McConaughey and ended up regretting it really fast.
“I ran to the kitchen … grabbed a big tablespoon, came back in, and just pinned her in a corner and acted like it was a weapon,” McConaughey recalled. “I did it until she cried. And Kim was like, ‘That was good,’ and she was like, ‘Yeah, that was really good. You really scared me.'”
McConaughey was offered the role almost immediately, and he went on to star in the movie alongside Renée Zellweger. After wrapping up filming, he left his home state of Texas and headed out to Los Angeles to try and make it in Hollywood.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation was a box office bomb and ended up being universally panned by the critics. However, it is still remembered for launching the careers of McConaughey and Zellweger, who both went on to win Academy Awards for their work.
