Renée Zellweger Felt What She and Matthew McConaughey Did in ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Wasn’t Legal
Matthew McConaughey teamed up with Renée Zellweger for the first time in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequel The Next Generation. With the feature being one of their first films, both actors remarked that they had a very interesting time on set.
Renée Zellweger once reflected on doing ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ with Matthew McConaughey
Both Zellweger and McConaughey were newcomers when they were cast in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequel The Next Generation. It was the direct sequel to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre which came out in 1974. Like its predecessor, Next Generation was a low budget film with few movie stars. Because of its financial limitations, actors didn’t even have their own trailers on set.
“We all shared a tiny Winnebago that belonged to the producer of the film,” she recalled. “Makeup was [in] the front seat, and then there was a table in the middle for hair, and then there was a tiny little curtain back by the bathroom, that’s where you put your prom dress and flower on,” Zellweger once recalled in an interview with Yahoo.
Despite conditions on set and the film’s own lackluster performance, Zellweger looked back fondly at her time in the movie. It was the first time she was allowed to lead a feature as an actor.
“I was so grateful, and I was so excited. I had done a little bit here, a little bit there, but nobody had ever trusted me with a role before to carry a film,” she added.
But Zellweger wasn’t sure how legitimate the shoot was even years later.
“It was ridiculous. How we pulled that off, I have no idea. I’m sure none of it was legal… But what an experience. It was kamikaze filmmaking,” she said.
Matthew McConaughey was cast in ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ after bringing a secretary to tears
McConaughey initially wasn’t supposed to have as prominent of a part in the film as he ended up having. He was actually already preparing to move to California before he was hired for Next Generation. Initially, he was supposed to have a bit part in the movie. The director asked the Oscar-winner if he knew any other local actors who’d be interested in playing the much larger role of a villain named Vilmer. But after considering it, McConaughey saw the opportunity to test for the role himself.
“I said, ‘I should try out for that role,’” he shared on his Youtube channel Matthew McConaughey.
Since no other female actor was available at the time, an office secretary was used to audition with McConaughey. McConaughey’s terrifying performance secured him the part, while also giving the secretary a good scare.
“I ran to the kitchen that was in this house where the office was, grabbed a big tablespoon out of the drawer, came back in, and just pinned her in a corner and acted like it was a weapon. And did it until she, like, cried,” he said.
The crew was impressed with McConaughey’s acting, including the secretary.
“’Yeah, that was really good. You really scared me,’” McConaughey remembered the secretary telling him.
Renée Zellweger’s agent tried to hook her up with Matthew McConaughey before they did ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’
Zellweger and McConaughey might’ve always been meant to cross paths. Even when they didn’t know each other back then, their agent wanted the pair to meet each other.
“We shared an agent in Dallas,” Zellweger once told People. “The agent had said, ‘You know, there’s this really nice guy who lives in Austin, he goes to UT, and he drives up here all the time for auditions. And you should call him up and you guys could, you go to the same auditions, you should.’ And she was telling him the same thing.”
When they finally linked up for Texas Chainsaw Massacre, they were both shocked by the coincidence.
“And when we did meet on the set of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, we said, ‘Oh, you’re that guy!’ ‘Oh, you’re, oh,’ and we both laughed,” Zellweger said.
