After taking over the 90s with a starring role in Dazed and Confused, Matthew McConaughey has had a career comeback. In the 2010s, he featured in The Dallas Buyer's Club and Interstellar, two of the biggest films of the decade.
McConaughey really is the true definition of an A-list star. When he starred as Richard Wershe Sr. in 2018's White Boy Rick, fans were excited to see someone like him take on such an interesting character. The movie has been generally well-received by audiences since its release.
Many fans have wondered if White Boy Rick himself Richard Wershe Jr. feels the same way about the movie. That is, assuming he's even seen the film at all.
What Exactly Is Matthew McConaughey's White Boy Rick Movie About?
White Boy Rick was released in 2018 by Sony Pictures. It was directed by Yann Demange, a prolific filmmaker. According to Variety, Demange is set to work on the upcoming MCU Blade movie.
White Boy Rick not only starred McConaughey, but it also included major appearances from Jennifer Jason-Leigh and Jonathan Majors. The movie also featured rappers Danny Brown and YG in their respective acting debuts.
White Boy Rick sees Richard Wershe Jr., played by teen actor Richie Merritt, begin his work for the FBI as an undercover informant. It takes place in Detroit, and while there is definitely a story about undercover doings, the movie focuses more on Wershe Sr's and Wershe Jr's odd father-son relationship as two FBI informants.
McConaughey's had some duds throughout his career, but this movie isn't one of them. Generally well-liked by audiences, critics have had other things to say about the film. White Boy Rick holds a Rotten Tomatoes critical score of 57%. Metacritic has given the movie a better rating of 6/10. However, audiences seemed to enjoy it a little bit more than critics. CinemaScore, a popular movie rating website where fans rate movies, has graded the movie a B.
White Boy Rick didn't win any awards, but fans did seem to have a good time with the biopic.
What Has White Boy Rick Said About Matthew McConaughey's Portrayal Of Richard Wershe Sr.?
McConaughey's character Richard Wershe Sr. passed away in 2014, per CNN. However, Wershe Jr. is still alive after spending a couple of decades in prison. What is his real story, and what has he said about the White Boy Rick movie?
The movie covers the events that led to Wershe Jr.'s original arrest. According to Detroit Free Press, Wershe Sr. was an FBI informant who helped get Wershe Jr. into the industry. Things went bad, and Wershe Jr. was given a life sentence, as was seen in the movie. In part because of the film's influence, Wershe Jr. was released in 2020 per The Detroit News.
Despite his early release, Wershe Jr. has never actually seen White Boy Rick. He told WWJ News in 2022 that he still hasn't seen the McConaughey-starring movie, despite being asked about it all the time. However, he still had some things to say about the film and the media's portrayal of him in general.
Per Wershe Jr. in that WWJ interview, he was visited by McConaughey during the movie's pre-production. Wershe Jr. was still in jail at the time, and due to his decades-long prison stint, didn't really know who the Dallas Buyer's Club star was. He said that McConaughey was nice, but that he never took any offered money from the studio.
However, Wershe Jr. did still have some input on the film. Aside from his meeting with McConaughey, Wershe Jr. did actually collaborate with one of the movie's writers, Scott Silver. Wershe Jr. told WWJ's Charlie Langton that he spent "probably 300 hours" with Silver before Silver left the project in the middle of pre-production.
Wershe Jr. hinted in that interview that Silver's departure from White Boy Rick might just be the reason why he hasn't seen the film. Wershe Jr. claimed that the movie "took a left turn" without Silver and that he never worked with the studio after that point.
Wershe Jr.'s biggest message from that interview with WWJ News is that he was never some sort of crime kingpin. Maybe that's why he still hasn't seen White Boy Rick, as he fears it will paint him in a similar light to how other films and documentaries have portrayed him.
What Has Matthew McConaughey Said About White Boy Rick?
Matthew McConaughey takes his roles seriously. He once turned down a movie that offered him $14 million because he didn't feel like the movie was right for him at the time. So he must have been fond of White Boy Rick if he accepted a starring role in the film, right?
McConaughey only gave a small handful of interviews for White Boy Rick, most of which were held around the premiere of the film at TIFF 2018. It's safe to say that he definitely loved the role and what it stood for.
McConaughey and director Yann Demange sat down with Deadline and talked about the movie. The two started raving about the film's authenticity to the real Wershe story, and how Richie Merritt was a great casting decision due to his real-life similarity to Rick Wershe Jr.
McConaughey then went on to talk about his character Rick Wershe Sr., and what his motivations were in the movie. McConaughey declared Wershe Sr. as a person stuck "in between the future and the past". He then compared Wershe Sr. to the iconic Fredo Corleone, and likewise compared Wershe Jr. to Michael Corleone. Sure, the family dynamic is quite different than the Corleone family, but the roles were very similar.
McConaughey then went on Jimmy Kimmel and praised the film, while also discussing that fabled jail meeting with Wershe Jr. McConaughey said that Wershe Jr. told McConaughey that he wasn't innocent, and wasn't upset about his jail sentence.
Since the release of White Boy Rick, McConaughey has kept his acting portfolio kind of quiet. Matthew moved away from Hollywood around a decade ago, but he hasn't quit acting by any means. Aside from White Boy Rick, his biggest recent projects have been in 2021's Sing 2 and 2019's The Gentlemen.
Meanwhile, while Wershe Jr. has finally been freed from jail, he hasn't considered everything as being completely over.
Wershe Jr. has recently sued the FBI for using him as an underage informant. According to Deadline, Wershe Jr. has claimed that the FBI "double-crossed" him, and is hoping to obtain $100 million from the lawsuit. Wershe Jr. has also called out some major pharmaceutical companies for their practices, although that was more of a political opinion and not something that was quite as personal.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErZ%2Bippeoe6S7zGiuoZmkYrWivM%2BepZ6cXam8bsPHoqueZZKkxm6%2ByJyiZqWRqcGpsdZmpJybn6OutrPHnrBmqJWns7C%2BzJqlnJ1f