Alright, alright, alright, kick back and have some fun and maybe learn a thing or two as we look back at Matthew McConaughey's first movie, 1993’s My Boyfriend’s Back. Matthew McConaughey is one of those actors who truly has gotten better and better as his career has matured. He has starred in so many great movies ranging from dramas like Dallas Buyers Club and A Time to Kill to sci-fi epics like Interstellar and even lending his voice to movies like The Sing franchise. However, it all started with this cheesy zombie comedy movie and that is what we are looking at today!
In this video, part of the series “Celebrities’ First Movie Appearance”, you can see Matthew McConaughey in his very first movie role in My Boyfriend's Back:
1993 Was A Good Year For Matthew McConaughey
When you think of Matthew McConaughey's breakout role it was 1993’s comedy classic Dazed and Confused which is just as hilarious today as it was 30-plus years ago. However, that wasn’t Matthew McConaughey’s first film, as My Boyfriend’s Back was released earlier in 1993, which to be kind, let us just say did not get anywhere near the same level of success as Dazed and Confused did. Plus, it was Dazed and Confused that gave us the iconic “alright, alright, alright”, something that Matthew McConaughey is still associated with to this day!
Johnny Zombie!
The first fun bit of trivia we have for you about Matthew McConaughey's first movie is that the title, My Boyfriend’s Back was not even supposed to be the original name! The movie was originally titled Johnny Zombie, after the main character of Johnny Dingle who was played by Andrew Lowery. The plot of the movie was about a high school student called Johnny who was in love with a girl called Missy. To try and win her affection, Jonny stages a robbery where Missy works, only to end up shot and brought back to life as a zombie However, not a normal zombie, granted, he still needs to eat flesh to survive, but he keeps all his humanity and love for Missy. To be fair, it is a fun idea for a movie, but the execution here is kind of lacking as it never really lives up to the cool premise that it had. As well as being a critical failure, the movie was also a box office dud at the time it was released, although it did do a little better when it was released on home video.
No Small Parts, Only Small Actors
What is fun about the theatrical debut of Matthew McConaughey is that Matthew McConaughey in My Boyfriend is Back is exactly what you expect a first theatrical credit to be. He does not even have a proper name, instead, he is just credited as “Guy #2” and he has a ten-second (at a push) scene in a movie theatre where he, his girl, and his buddy see that Missy is hanging out with an already zombified Johnny! To be fair, this is a pretty good first movie role for Matthew McConaughey as he is not just there as a background extra, he does at least get to say a couple of lines during the scene.
Sing That Again?
The title of My Boyfriend’s Back is clearly a reference to the iconic song by The Angels which was released all the way back in 1963. The song was a huge number-one hit and the catchy chorus of “My boyfriend’s back and you’re gonna be in trouble” is still well known to this day. However, despite the song being a huge part of the advertising campaign as it was featured in the movie's trailer, the song is never actually played in the movie! Kind of a missed opportunity when you think about it! Perhaps they did not want to pay for the licensing rights to actually use the song in the movie. The song lives on to this day as it has been covered a bunch of times and has also been parodied a bunch too, a prime example being in the TV series, The Office in the season 8 episode, Angry Andy.
Bridget Jones's Lost Scene
While we are looking at My Boyfriends Back because it is Matthew McConaughey's first movie role, he was not the only future star to call this their first movie. Now this is what movie trivia is all about! Leading lady Renee Zellweger could also call this her first movie role, but her scene was cut from the movie. This means that her official theatrical debut would come later in 1993 with Dazed and Confused…. That is right, the same movie that would also star Matthew McConaughey! How many other big-time Hollywood actors and actresses can say that their first two movies were together?
Someone Else Who Is “Lost”
The crazy thing is, the movie debuts (or technical movie debuts in Renee Zellweger’s case) do not stop there. Playing the role of one of the jerk antagonists, Buck, in My Boyfriend’s Back is Matthew Fox. Matthew Fox would go on to make a name for himself as Charlie in Party of 5 in the 90s, but it is perhaps his role as Jack in the epic series Lost that he is best known for. Appearing alongside Matthew Fox as Buck is Phillip Seymore Hoffman as Chuck. Granted, this was not Phillip Seymore Hoffman’s first movie role, but it was still very early into his movie career as he made his debut with 1991’s Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole.
Not As Cheap As You Would Think
We are not saying that the reason My Boyfriend’s Back is not a super cheap VHS or DVD to buy is because it is Matthew McConaughey’s first movie, but that could be part of the reason. Even though physical media is starting to become more collectible, My Boyfriend’s Back has always held a decent price on VHS and it is not all cheap on DVD either. Granted, it is not going to make you rich if you have a copy lying somewhere in your house. However, when many other VHS and DVDs go for a buck, this one will usually be closer to the $10 to maybe even $20 range!
My Boyfriend’s Back from 1993 may not be one of the classic comedies of the 90s, but the fact that this is the first Matthew McConaughey movie is still pretty cool. While the movie does not live up to the cool premise, you could argue stuff like iZombie, Life After Beth and even the recent Lisa Frankenstein have a bit of My Boyfriend’s Back about them. Although none of those movies can claim to have the very first theatrical appearance of Matthew McConaughey in them!