Los Angeles, California - Actor Matthew McConaughey had many reasons to select The Rivals of Amziah King – a honey-themed thriller set in the American Southwest – for his first film in more than five years.
"The joy, the soul, the humor, the music, the poetry, the mythology, original time, place, and space," the Oscar-winning actor told the AFP when asked why he had chosen the indie film for his long-awaited comeback.
Written and directed by Andrew Patterson, "The Rivals of Amziah King" follows McConaughey's charismatic local honey producer, who splits his time between tending his beehives and playing the banjo in a folk band of friends and neighbors.
"I knew these people. I liked the way they loved each other. I liked the way they fought with each other, I liked the way they cared. I liked the way they use music and humor to survive," the 56-year-old Texan said.
"Amziah is a guy who really, at the heart of himself, gives people belonging, helps people belong, and that's part of the thing," he explained.
"This wasn't the reason I did it, but in hindsight, I go: 'That's a nice thing to put out there into the world, and share with people.'"
McConaughey stepped away from movies after Guy Ritchie's 2019 dark comedy "The Gentlemen," turning his focus instead to writing his memoir "Greenlights."
Although movie-goers saw him last year in "The Lost Bus," that was filmed after "The Rivals of Amziah King" wrapped.
McConaughey wasn't initially in Patterson's plans, the indie filmmaker said.
"I was just a guy in Oklahoma writing scripts, making little movies. It had nothing. There was no way that this had any chance to get in front of him," he said.
"And over a number of years, and people getting behind my career, and you know, I think in spirit, Matthew and I were on a collision course for each other. There was no way of knowing that it would happen."