In response to Joel Schumacher’s death on Monday, Matthew McConaughey says his career wouldn’t have taken off if the late director hadn’t cast him as the lead in the 1996 film “A Time to Kill.”McConaughey was relatively unknown before starring as Jake Brigance in the courtroom crime drama.
He had small roles in “Dazed and Confused,” “Angels in the Outfield,” “Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation” and “Boys on the Side” in the mid ’90s, and Schumacher gave him his first leading role.In an exclusive statement to Variety, McConaughey reflects on the big break Schumacher gave him and thanks the director for kickstarting his career:“Joel not only took a chance on me, he fought for me.
Knowing the studio might never approve a relatively unknown like myself for the lead in ‘A Time to Kill,’ he set up a secret screen test for me on
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