The University of Texas at Austin decided that actor and alumnus Matthew McConaughey was a pretty alright, alright, alright lecturer and gave him a promotion to professor.
McConaughey, who graduated from UT Austin in 1993, is joining the school's faculty as a professor of practice after helping to co-teach a script to screen course there since 2015. The actor has been in a number of blockbuster films such as "Interstellar" and won an Oscar for Best Actor in 2014 for his role in "Dallas Buyer's Club."
The 49-year-old native Texan said that his script class focuses on "the elements of truth and genuine joy for the process.”
“It’s the class I wish I would have had when I was in film school," McConaughey said in a statement released Wednesday by UT Austin. "Working in the classroom with these students gives me a chance to prepare them."
His course this fall will study two of his own films: the upcoming Guy Ritchie project, "The Gentleman," and Jeff Nichols' 2012 movie, "Mud."
Noah Isenberg, chair of the Department of Radio-Television-Film at UT Austin, described McConaughey as a passionate teacher whose love of "all things cinematic" is infectious. The dean of the university's college of communications, Jay Bernhardt, said he was proud to add McConaughey to the school's faculty.
"Matthew cares deeply for our school and our students, and we are thrilled that he shares his time and talent to help prepare the next generation of media leaders and innovators," Bernhardt said.