Matthew McConaughey`s Big Transformation for a Role; Drew Barrymore in No Hurry to Lose Baby Weight; Kim and Kanye`s Big Move
HAMMER: OK. So do you remember this scary skinny photo of Matthew McConaughey? The "Magic Mike" star hit an all-time low in body fat when he got down to an astounding 135 pounds for a movie role. He was playing an AIDS patient. And now in a brand-new interview with SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, Matthew`s opening up about exactly how he was able to psych himself up to do it, and exactly how he rewarded himself once he finished shooting the movie. I can`t wait to hear that. With me now from Hollywood, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Nischelle Turner. So Nischelle, whittling yourself down to 135 pounds when you`re a man of his size, not for the faint of heart. How did he do it?</s>NISCHELLE TURNER, HLN CORRESPONDENT: No, the faint of heart, or smart of heart, A.J., you`re right. McConaughey really took some extreme measures to lose weight for his starring role in "The Dallas Buyers Club," a drama about Ron Woodruff, a real-life Texas electrician who contracted HIV in the `80s through IV drug use. It`s gotten him big-time Oscar buzz. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT was right there last night in New York, where McConaughey was awarded best supporting actor by the New York Film Critics Circle for his role. And he shared with us how he lost all that weight under a doctor`s close supervision and why getting so skinny was so important to him. Take a look.</s>MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, ACTOR: If I wouldn`t have got down to that weight to play that character as truthfully as I could, I would have been embarrassed for myself. Because my job is to go emulate the life of someone else. And that`s what I was doing. So it wasn`t honestly -- it was a difficult shore (ph), take a distant shore. But after I decided I was going to do it -- I say it all this time: once you run into the inevitable, get relative.</s>TURNER: Wow. Just looking at him there, that -- that picture is amazing, A.J. I can`t even imagine denying myself one day, let alone months of being deprived of all the things I love to eat.</s>HAMMER: Yes. Yes. Pretty amazing. Obviously, he has so much discipline, and he`s a professional. But what I`ve really been dying to know is how did he reward himself after he finished shooting the movie. Did he just pig out?</s>TURNER: This is good. Because reward himself he did. Listen to what he told us about that.</s>MCCONAUGHEY: I had a cheeseburger first thing. And I doozied it up for over 22 minutes before I touched it. It was in front of me, but wouldn`t touch it until I had it just right. And it was just as good as I hoped it was.</s>HAMMER: I say good for you, Matthew. Sounds like he enjoyed every bite of that burger. Let me bring in Julie Klausner. She`s a correspondent with Vulture.com. So Julie, apparently, listening to Matthew, it took him 22 minutes to dig into that burger. Now, I`m not a hamburger guy, but I would have eaten the fattiest, biggest, juiciest thing in a second. What about you?</s>JULIE KLAUSNER, VULTURE.COM: Oh, yes, no question, absolutely. I don`t know if I would have been able to wait 22 minutes. I have some questions about whether or not it got cold. I mean, it`s not a frigging souffle, either. It`s fast food. Right? Twenty-two minutes seems a little excessive. But look, you`ve got to do what you`ve got to do. Maybe it`s anticipation. Maybe he built it up.</s>HAMMER: Hopefully, the ketchup came right out of the bottle as quickly as he needed it to.</s>KLAUSNER: I pray that it did.</s>HAMMER: McConaughey, by the way, not the only star who`s making big news out of Hollywood today in big confessions about weight loss. Brand-new mom, Oscar-winning actress Drew Barrymore, reveals in a new interview that`s out today in "Good Housekeeping" that she`s in no rush to lose the baby weight after she gave birth to her daughter, Olive back in October. Let me read what she says: "I`m still working on it, but I`m not worrying about it. We live in a society where everyone is, like, `Look how amazing she looks two weeks out from giving birth.` I don`t want to be on that hamster wheel. That`s hell. I`m never going to have the kind of body that makes me excited about bikini season. I`ve never had a beach body, but I want to feel like I`m showing up and doing my best. My goal is to be nice to myself, gentle toward myself, during this process. It`s such a sacred time." Julie, I listen to that, I read those words, I`m thinking hooray for Drew. I mean, how terrific of her that she`s just being honest, candid, open and saying what I think millions of moms across the country are cheering her on for right now about not losing the baby weight.</s>KLAUSNER: Absolutely. I was with her down to the word "sacred." Then I kind of lost her. But absolutely, it`s a great sentiment. I do think she`s a good role model for her daughter and other -- for other women who have a hard time losing weight or don`t particularly feel like it moments after they`ve given birth. That said, were we all as blessed as Drew Barrymore with that gene pool, I think it would be a little bit easier for us to accept ourselves.</s>HAMMER: Yes. Well, you know, the one thing that I think we`ve always loved about Drew Barrymore, not just as a Hollywood star but as a human being, is she`s so human. She really has always transcended what it is to be big Hollywood. She`s just a cool woman that...</s>KLAUSNER: Yes.</s>HAMMER: ... I think we all want to be friends with.</s>POSNER (PH): No question.</s>HAMMER: All right. Julie Klausner, thank you so much.</s>KLAUSNER: Thanks for having me.</s>HAMMER: Let`s move on now to baby Kim-ye`s $11 million crib. Now here, I`m talking crib as in mansion. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West reportedly bought a house that could be bigger than all the houses on your block combined. That`s just one story that made the cut for tonight`s SHOWBIZ Countdown, "Brilliant or Bananas?" But will Kim-ye beat out Taylor`s new reported breakup? Yes, that`s right. Taylor Swift may be a single lady again. Is that "Brilliant or Bananas"? Which buzz-making story will top our SHOWBIZ Countdown. It is time now for the SHOWBIZ TONIGHT buzz. Here`s what the SHOWBIZ staff is buzzing all about this week.</s>HAMMER: Carrie before the "twos." We can`t wait for the Carrie diaries. Now, this is the prequel to "Sex and the City." The new show and series premiers on the CW on January 14. I love this. I was playing it with -- playing it this afternoon. Songza, a free music streaming service that recommends playlists based on your mood, activities, of even time of day. Got a Trekkie alert for you. The "Star Trek" Into Darkness app full of cool features. The best thing is, you can use the app to enter to win a trip to "Star Trek: Into Darkness" premier in May. Well, we`ve already locked in our July 4 weekend plans. That`s because a hot line-up for the Essence Music Festival has just been announced: Jill Scott, L.L. Cool Jay and a whole lot more will be hitting the stage in New Orleans. And "Justified" is back on FX with tonight`s debut of season four.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s been investigated so many times, internal affairs got him on speed dial.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a gift.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe so much is planned (ph). We`re going to put you down.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don`t matter to me.