Entertainment

Matthew McConnaughey's 'True Detective' Role is his 'Magic Mike' role, Recycled

I think we can all go on about the McConnaissance ad nauseum until the Oscars happen and True Detective season one comes to a close. I hold myself absolutely guilty of this McCrime. And as I watched last night's episode of the gritty HBO crime drama, I was struck by McConnaughey's physicality in the episode's pivotal scene where his partner's wife Maggie comes to his apartment to have an affair. Just before she knocked on the door, Rust is inspecting evidence on his shabby kitchen table and has he slowly lowered himself to his chair with his pelvis thrust forward, I was suddenly struck and realized that I'd seen that very same move somewhere before. That somewhere was Magic Mike.

Yes, yes, Magic Mike the 2012 Channing Tatum dramedy about male strippers looking for redemption and love in Tampa. It was as equally campy as it was surprisingly...good. And McConnaughey managed to steal the film from its titular star. McConnaughey won a slew of recognition for the role of Dallas, the slick, calculating owner of the Cock-Rocking Kings of Tampa, including a Critics Choice Award, a New York Film Critics Circle Award, and an Independent Spirit Award.

And it turns out critical praise and a few thrusts of the pelvis aren't the only things Dallas and Rust have in common. There's plenty of blood, sweat, and tears in both performances. Both work best in dark rooms. Both jobs involve lots of guns (biceps and literal). Oh, and before Rust was in Louisiana, he worked in, you guessed it, Texas.

What is perhaps the most striking similarity between these characters is their penchant for talking like modern-day philosophers. So McConnesseurs, can you guess who said these lines?

by Rachel Semigran

Dallas or Rust?

“I think I see a lotta lawbreakers.”

Kevin Winter/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

A: Dallas!

Image: perezhilton

Dallas or Rust?

“The world needs bad men.”

Ethan Miller/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

A: Rust!

Dallas or Rust?

“Clock eyes, but don’t lock in on any of them.”

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Dallas or Rust?

“We are going to do this just like we always said, we are going to do this together. 7.5 across the board”

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

A: Dallas, again!

Image: portable.tv

Dallas or Rust?

“I know who I am. And after all these years, there’s a victory in that. ”

Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

A: Rust

Image: whateverishappened-happened/Tumblr

Dallas or Rust?

“On my days off I start drinking at noon.”

Ethan Miller/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

A: Rusty!

Image: flugcojt/Tumblr

Dallas or Rust?

“Can’t have a 19-year-old on the f*ckin’ street.”

Christopher Polk/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

A: Dallas!

Image: Buzzfeed

Dallas or Rust?

“This place is like someone’s memory of a town, and the memory is fading. ”

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

A: Rust!

Image: krankaholic/Tumblr

Dallas or Rust?

“You know this is about the last f*cking thing i need for my reputation before we make the big move.”

Kevin Winter/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

A: Dallas!

Image:swoonworthy

Dallas or Rust?

“Just gotta look a man in his eyes. It’s all there. Everybody wears their hunger and their haunt you know?”

Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

A: Rust….but we know where you got those moves!

Image: itsnotunusual/Tumblr

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