Matthew McConaughey Searches for ‘Gold’ in First Trailer

Caught somewhere between The Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle, the first look at Gold, starring Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey, looks like fun counter-programming to the glut of Oscar films this Christmas but then, that could be the awards strategy itself. The Weinstein Company is probably positioning the film as more of a box office play but when your film stars an Oscar winner and is directed by an Oscar winner (Stephen Gaghan, writer of Traffic) there could be more than meets the eye.

Gold tells the story of down on his luck loser Kenny Wells (McConaughey) as he scrounges for cash by selling gold watches, bracelets, whatever he can get steal from girlfriend Bryce Dallas Howard, who joins Michael Acosta (Édgar Ramírez) in pillaging the jungles of Borneo for what ends up being one of the biggest gold finds in history.

McConaughey gained 40 pounds for the role (much like Christian Bale in American Hustle) and is probably hoping that audiences don’t recognize him from his two other releases this year, Free State of Jones and The Sea of Trees, both huge box office flops. Incidentally, this is McConaughey’s third ‘gold’ search in film. He previously was on the hunt in Sahara (2005) and Fool’s Gold (2008). The rest of the cast includes Corey Stoll, Toby Kebbell, Bruce Greenwood, Timothy Simons, Bill Camp and Stacy Keach.

Gold is set for release on Christmas Day under The Weinstein Company’s TWC-Dimension label.

Here is the first trailer for Gold: