Warning: Do not be fooled by the above picture. Matthew McConaughey has a new trailer out and, while he may be wearing a cowboy hat, this is not a romantic comedy about a caddish Texas boy who changes his ways for Kate Hudson. There will be no beautiful women doing pratfalls, no comical arguments about commitment, and certainly no love ferns. In fact, what we have here is an NC-17 movie based on a play from a Pulitzer winner and directed by William Friedkin. Seriously.
Killer Joe concerns a lawman who moonlights as a contract killer. He takes a job from Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) to murder Smith's mother (Gina Gershon), with Smith's sister (Juno Temple) serving as a "retainer." From the looks of it, there's a lot of mistrust, potential double-crossing, leering, and Emile Hirsch getting the shit kicked out of him. Plus, according to movie-goers who saw it at the Toronto and SXSW festivals, something really crazy happens with some fried chicken.
It's interesting enough to see McConaughey taking on this kind of role — between this and his upcoming movies with Steven Soderbergh and the director of Take Shelter, is he becoming, like, a real actor? — but the producers' decision not to fight the rating is even more noteworthy. Given Harvey Weinstein's very public criticism of the MPAA following the Bully rating, could the tides finally be turning against the rating board? I never would've guessed that a McConaughey movie would be the one to break the MPAA, but then again, I never would've guessed that Whitney Cummings would have three TV show deals going at once. We're living in strange times.
