After a healthy run at the other awards shows, Dallas Buyers Club leading man Matthew McConaughey is the clear favourite to take home the Best Actor Oscar this year. He’s also a man in high demand, and Gus Van Sant has secured his services for a new drama called **Sea Of Trees.
Buried’s Chris Sparling wrote the script, which sees an American man (McConaughey) heading into the infamous “Suicide Forest” at the foot of Mount Fuji with every intention of taking his own life.
Yet, as he prepares to commit suicide, a Japanese man (Ken Watanabe), who came with the same intent but has had second thoughts, interrupts him, and convinces him that life just might be worth living. As they look for a way out of the forest, they reflect on what the world means to them.
From the sounds of it, Sea Of Trees is shaping up to be another existential brain-tickler from Van Sant, who last directed environmental issues drama Promised Land. He’s setting Trees up as his next film, with Watanabe and McConaughey on board, ready to spend time swapping stories of working with Christopher Nolan. The theme of interrupted suicide attempts chimes with another upcoming film, since A Long Way Down beginning with the same premise.
McConaughey, who is also on screens in The Wolf Of Wall Street, will next be seen in Nolan’s ambitious space thriller Interstellar, due to land here on November 7. Look out for more from McConaughey in our podcast this week.