Matthew McConaughey's new film rekindled love of acting after six year hiatus

Matthew McConaughey is back in love with acting after taking a six year hiatus from being on screen.

Following 2019's The Gentlemen the 55-year-old star has restricted himself to voice roles, instead focusing on fatherhood, and writing and promoting his memoir, Greenlights.

For his comeback he's taken the title role as an Oklahoma beekeeper in The Rivals of Amziah King, and tells Variety writer and director Andrew Patterson's film has rekindled his passion for his longtime profession.

"I remembered a couple of things," he says of being back on set. "One, how much I truly enjoy performing. Two, I remembered, hey, McConaughey, you're pretty damn good at this. And three, I remembered that acting is a vacation for me, and what I mean by vacation is that when when I'm performing, it's my singular focus.

"When I walk out the door in the morning, my wife says, 'go kick some a**. I got the kiddos. We're good.' That's vacation. Because I'm not multitasking. I'm not compartmentalizing. I'm fully focused on finding the truth of my character."

The Dallas Buyers Club star also says writing his unconventional memoir has also helped him find himself again as an actor.

"The memoir was extremely honest and it forced me to be honest with myself," he adds. "It cleared up things you've been thinking about for 35 years. And it makes you realise that's kind of who you are, Matthew. Let's admit that and shake hands. Bravo.

"That gave me even more trust in myself, because, you know, there was less to maybe hide about myself. I had shared it. So that's made it easier for me to be honest as an actor."