Matthew McConaughey practises Oscars speech on Jimmy Kimmel Live

The Best Actor nominee was persuaded to plan his acceptance by the US host

Chemical cowboy: Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club

There are still ten days to go until this year’s Oscars winners are announced, but Best Actor hopeful Matthew McConaughey has already practiced his acceptance speech.

The US actor, nominated for his role in Dallas Buyers Club , was persuaded to discuss being the Academy Award favourite on Wednesday night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“I feel you deserve the award, not just for your performance, but you starved yourself almost to death and that has to be horrible, a terrible experience.” Kimmel said, as McConaughey looked awkward.

“Just based on that alone you should win it because that’s a sacrifice, and some of these other guys made no sacrifice at all. Some of them plumped up!”When McConaughey laughed, Kimmel asked whether he had considered what to say should he triumph at the Oscars. 

“If I start with 'alright, alright, alright and thank you' I really can’t go wrong,” the 44-year-old said, referring to the first words he ever said on film as a stoner in 1993’s Dazed and Confused. “Then it’ll swing back somehow to the “ just keeping livin' story”.

The True Detective actor started the Just Keep Livin foundation, which helps empower teenagers to lead active lives, after losing his father while shooting Dazed and Confused. His character’s line, “you just gotta keep livin’ man, L-I-V-I-N”, struck a chord with the actor when he was struggling with grief.

If all goes to plan and McConaughey wins Best Actor on Sunday 2 March, he will have a hard job topping his memorable Golden Globes speech, as Kimmel noted. “The Golden Globes speech? What did I say? I had a great time…” the actor said, modestly, about his praised act of public-speaking.

McConaughey's Dallas Buyers Club performance as AIDS sufferer Ron Woodroof has swept the board at recent awards events, including the prestigious Screen Actors Guild Awards.

McConaughey gives an impassioned performance in Dallas Buyers Club

“There’s a magic place we as actors strive to get to and we don’t always get there but when we tough it it’s magic,” he said in another impassioned speech.

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To fully understand the character he was playing, McConaughey lost 40 pounds over the course of five months by eating just a spoonful of pudding a day.

"I was literally and figuratively hungry," he told Kimmel. "I was able to surround myself with everything Ron Woodroof."

Read more: Dallas Buyers Club is 'a rousing crowd-pleaser'
Matthew McConaughey: 'I have more of a selfish desire now'
Oscar nominations in full

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