Dream it, write it, keep on livin' it: McConaughey on his new kids book, 'Just Because'

There’s a moment in the famous “More Cowbell” sketch on “Saturday Night Live” when record producer Bruce Dickinson, played by the genius Christopher Walken, says, “I put my pants on just like the rest of you — one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I make gold records.”

Well, Matthew McConaughey dreams just like the rest of you. Except, once McConaughey receives those nocturnal messages, he makes (and I’m making an educated guess here) a best-selling book.

In this particular case, McConaughey’s subconscious was tapping out signals in a sing-songy flurry of catchy couplets that explained a nuanced worldview the actor regularly explores and celebrates in his personal life.

Because, of course they did.

“Just because they threw the dart doesn’t mean that it stuck,” he writes. “Just because I’ve got skills doesn’t mean there is no luck.”

McConaughey told the American-Statesman recently that he spent about five hours transcribing his freestyle to the page. He thought he’d originally stumbled across a song, but when he had finished, the Oscar-winning actor and author of the No. 1 New York Times bestselling memoir “Greenlights” realized he might just have his second book on his hands.

After talking to his agent and toning down some of the language to make it a little more Shel Silverstein than “Beach Bum’s” Moon Dog, McConaughey had his first children’s book.

More: McConaughey and Woody Harrelson team up for new comedy show on Apple TV+

“Just Because” riffs on McConaughey’s personal philosophy and Trojan horses some pretty big ideas about humility, giving yourself grace and keeping an open mind.

The book, illustrated by Renée Kurilla, will be published with Viking Children’s Books and released September 12. McConaughey makes a sold-out appearance at BookPeople to promote “Just Because” on September 9.

We recently chatted with the Uvalde native about being a father of three children who are full of new and big questions, staying wary of absolutes and writing his first (and likely not his last) children’s book. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

American-Statesman: As you were becoming a dad, did you think about what lessons you wanted to teach your kids or what kind of dad you wanted to be?

McConaughey: Yeah. And most of those didn’t work out. (Laughs) There will be times when your child will ask you a question, and you know it’s a doozy, and you know you better have a really good answer. And you might be tired, but you have one time to give that answer and what you say is going to be written in their lineage. You’re forming their constitution and perspective of life. Those are intimidating but awesome. And I’ve knocked a few of those out of the park, I think, and I’ve kinda done some where I had to come in and throw some amendments on it later. Most of this stuff is best-laid plans out the door. First thing I noticed was how much it’s DNA. And I thought it was 80% environment and 20% DNA, and all of a sudden when they’re born, you realize it’s flipped: it’s 80% DNA and 20% environment. They are who they are. The things I wrote and took notes about all three of my kids when they were 2-, 3-, 4-years-old are pretty much true today when I write about them.

Our 2-year-old is such an empath and looks after other kids on the playground and has Big Grandma Energy, so if she at 15 is like who she is at 2, I’m gonna be stoked. 

So much of it comes about because we want to preserve those beautiful things we see. I see it now in their teen years. You see them start to go off and try new things and you’re, like, “It’s cool to try that, but remember who you essentially are in the masses when you go out. Because this is who you’ve always been."

There’s something about the wisdom of children and writing a book like this and being able to use kids’ language to simplify it, even though it’s your language, that makes the lessons clean and simple.

And it makes it clean for me, as the father, as an adult. This is fun. We could talk about each one of these couplets for an hour. We could break them down and have an intellectual talk about each one of them. But to put them with a little rhyme based on “Just because” … it’s a Bob Dylan ditty. It’s a nursery rhyme. There’s an innocence to it. And there’s a leniency to it. And there’s a, “Hey, take it easy,” to it. There’s forgiveness all over this thing; there’s responsibility all over this thing; there’s choice all over this thing. It hopefully takes some pressure off them feeling like they have to be absolute about what they’re doing in life. Give yourself a break sometimes, doesn’t mean don’t take no responsibility. This is just the human existence. If you embrace life, you’re going to run into these contradictions. That’s all part of the poetry.

It’s about moving past the absolutes and getting into the nuance and being comfortable in that.

Context. Consideration. My appetite may be your indigestion. And that’s OK! And that’s the other part. Life tells us if it’s blue to me and green to you, then I guess we can’t hang, or I guess we disagree and oppose each other. No. Maybe I saw blue and you saw green, and it’s turquoise. Bingo. All three were true. So, in that way, am I subliminally taking a little bit of a stab at watching out for all the divisiveness we’re talking about? Sure. I know I want my kids, and I think most people want their kids, to understand both sides and two different opinions. And you can still make a choice but give credit to the fact that there are differences of opinion and people see the same thing two different ways.

You touch on giving yourself grace and not being so hard on yourself while also having humility that your way might not be the right way. You’re kind of Trojan horsing some big ideas into what might just look like a little rap.

I’m inherently doing that. 100%. I’ve read the book with my kids and I’m having conversations with them and then when those conversations are done, I’m going away and still thinking about these couplets in my own life and in America and in the world and how we treat each other. I didn’t go to sleep that night thinking that I want to think about that, but it’s inherent in the way I think.

Did you ever think you’d write a kids book?

Yeah. I think I’ve got a few more in me, too. They’re fun. They take pressure off me, too. I get younger talking about it. I get younger talking to my kids about the book; I get younger talking to you about it. I always tell my kids, and try to remind myself in life: “If we’ve been an age, we’re always that age.” If I’m talking to my 10-year-old, I understand, because I was 10, 43 years ago. I’m still 10. We can access an age we’ve been. You still are any number previous to the age you are now. What you cannot do is access an age you’ve never been. This is what’s fun: I go back and talk to my 10-year-old, and I’m 10 again.

More: 10 things we learned from Matthew McConaughey’s ‘Greenlights’

Looking back, what was your favorite age?

Eight. Because I’m pretty sure that’s the year I found that tree house (a magical and foundational place for McConaughey that he writes about it “Greenlights”), and that summer is when I learned to dream for the first time.

Did it ever make you sad watching your kids (they are now 10, 13 and 15) and thinking, “Man, I hope that thing doesn’t get beat out of you, or I hope you don’t lose that joy or whimsy"?

I’m on it now. So much about parenting is trying to preserve the heart and spirit of who someone is. We all know it: There are many ways, as we evolve in life and gain knowledge, there’s things we learn worse, not learn better. I love evolution and knowledge and learning, but there are things where we get calloused. You go from naivete to innocence and then you slip into skepticism, and the real bridge that I think we ought to watch to cross is not letting it slip from skeptic to cynic. Cynicism is almost the opposite of the beginning of youth and childhood and wonder and possibility. And that’s one of the big diseases that all of us can succumb to in getting older: cynicism.

Is there a hope that adults are going to read this book with their kids and have small epiphanies?

I hope so. That’s what happened to me. Camilla and I have gone through it with mine. It’s a reminder. Does it take me back to days of more innocence? Sure. Does it take me back to some naivete? Sure. Does it take me back to remind me of some basics that have gotten a little dusty in my own life? Yep. Parts where I’m, like, “You need to remember those. Those are not going out of style.” And in a simple way. Which is what makes it fun. Because they’re not big thinkers, they’re just big conversation starters.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: McConaughey hopes 'Just Because' book teaches self-compassion, nuance