McConaughey Muses on 'Mud' and Muddy Headlines

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Matthew McConaughey teams up with Reese Witherspoon in the Southern-fried coming-of-age drama Mud, and the easygoing star shares his thoughts about the compelling film as well as -- in the wake of Reese's weekend run-in with the law -- the challenges of being a celebrity in the spotlight.

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"You're in the fish bowl, you know?" Matt tells ET. "It could be a feeling like you're the subject of the universe and that can be intimidating, and you just have to work harder to get the solace of asking yourself how you feel about a situation when the spotlight's really on you like that, and that's the challenge of being in the spotlight."

In theaters Friday, Mud follows a pair of best friends in Mississippi, Ellis and Neckbone (played respectively by Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland), who encounter a man named Mud (McConaughey) hiding out on a local island. The boys befriend Mud, who is full of tall tales and murder and bounty hunters and tells them that he's planning to escape with a girl named Juniper (played by Witherspoon), the love of his life. The skeptical boys soon discover that Mud's tales aren't so tall as true, and soon find themselves in over their heads.

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Directed by Jeff Nichols, Mud also stars Sam Shepard and Michael Shannon.