Kay McConaughey in “Bernie”

Kay McConaughey (affectionately known as K-Mac) plays a small town gossip in the new film Bernie, directed by family friend Richard Linklater, and co-starring her son Matthew, whom you may have heard of.

Her character, Tassie, is one of the more memorable “locals” through which the film’s narrative is told. She plays a ballsy gal with plenty to say and steals the movie in her few brief scenes.

I sat down with K-Mac in the Lobby Lounge restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel while SXSW frenzy buzzed around us. Looking nowhere near her 80 years and having more energy than most kids I know, she chatted about the movie, her book, her famous son, and being a grandma.

DW: I’ve just come out of a roundtable interview with Matthew and Richard. They talked about you…

KM: (laughs) Yeah, well, Richard’s so low-key and sweet. I hope I get to see him in a suit before I die. I’ve never seen him in a suit no matter what the premiere is and I go to all of his.

DW: How did you get involved with the film Bernie?

KM: Rick called me and said, “There’s a part for you in this movie Bernie and I cannot imagine anybody playing Tassie but you.” I’m good friends with him and his family so it’s not like… I mean he just comes right out and says, “It’s you, K-Mac. It’s got you all over it.” So he emailed it to me and I said, “Rick, you’re right. That sounds like me.” I said I’d love to do it.

DW: The part you play is one of the townspeople, one of the gossips, and it all seems so natural. Was it ad-libbed or scripted?

KM: I ad-libbed. (laughs) A lot.

DW: Well, that explains it. (laughs)

KM: It was so easy to do. I don’t mean to make it sound like I’m a pro, I was just so comfortable, you know.

DW: Well, your character weighs in a lot on the crime and the two lead characters. What do you think about Bernie and Mrs. Nugent?

KM: I wish he’d gotten a lighter sentence. I mean, she’d be enough to drive anybody crazy. Have you seen the movie?

DW: I did, and I enjoyed it.

KM: Isn’t it wonderful? And Shirley MacLaine is perfect for it. Jack’s perfect for it. Matthew’s perfect for it. Rick did a good job of casting, including me. Very good. (laughs)

DW: Getting away from the movie a bit, I know that you’re a grandma…

KM: And a great-grandma, too!

DW: Wow, congrats on that. Are you a traditional kind of cookies-and-milk grandma…?

KM: NO! Not at all! But, I mean, they don’t try me. They’re very respectful to me and I can’t imagine them talking back to me. But they’re always happy to see me because I do the fun stuff. Levi (Matthew’s son) loves to role-play and he’s only 3. I say, come on let’s go, and he says, “Is the big black car gonna pick us up?”

DW: He’s already used to limos.

KM: Right (laughs), but he’s very imaginative. I’ll say, “Where should we go.” And he’ll say, “Brazil.” And then he wants me to tell a story that we can act out. Now Vida (Matthew’s daughter, 2) is gettin’ to be the same way. Levi will say, “Ma-Mac, Ma-Mac, tell me a story.” And I say, “Where should we go to tell this story?” and he says, “Under the piano?” So there we go, under the piano or under the pool table. Just us on an adventure. That’s how we go. No, I’m not baking cookies and all of that. That’s not me.

DW: You wrote a book called, “I Amaze Myself.” Do you have any plans to write more?

KM: No, it was fun but I don’t want to do it anymore. It’s time-consuming. I have a partner now. We travel. And I mean, I self-published this and it was a lot of work. Book signings, Kiwanis Club, Lions Club, you name it.

DW: So you were your own publicist and all of that?

KM: Yeah, it was a lot of work and I’m done with it now. I did it because I would tell stories to and about my kids and some of the things I’ve gotten away with… that I have no shame about. Like I always say, I’ve been thrown out of better places. So I had stories to tell, but there’s no trying to please everybody. And I’m just happy being me.

DW: That’s the only way to live it.

KM: The only way.

DW: With having a celebrity in the family, what would you say is the best thing about that and what is the worst thing about it?

KM: The best thing is I get to go to great places. We went to Africa, Italy. Matthew is so good about flying us over and my partner gets to come, too. That’s the best part, getting to see places I would never have been able to.

DW: You get to see the world…

KM: Yes, he’s very good about that and always has been. And I guess the worst part, it’s not really a bad thing, but I don’t like it when we’re someplace and people come up to talk to him and they take him away from his family, from us. Like at a premiere or something, we go in first and then he has his time and does his thing. That’s fine. But it’s mostly when we’re out someplace and they come up and say, “Are you Matthew McConaughey?” and then our time is taken away. I understand it, and it’s not bad, but it’s really the one thing I don’t like.

DW: He’s moved back to Texas now so do you get a lot of time with him and the grandkids?

KM: He’s in Austin now. Yes, but I don’t go unless they ask me. (laughs) Right now, I’m back almost every Sunday. Levi and I are friends. He’ll call and say, “Ma-Macky, come to my house now.” So I may be his grandmother but I’m his fun friend most of all.

DW: Well, I’ve really enjoyed talking with you. This has been a lot of fun.

KM: The one thing I always say and have all over my house is: It’s All Good. I gave one to Matthew, a big sign that says, “It’s All Good,” and that’s the way we live.

DW: I can see that in him and in you, too. Thanks so much.

KM: Thank you.

You can see K-Mac in the new film Bernie, currently in theaters. My review of the film is here.

“Bernie” is based on a crime story that proves the adage “truth is stranger than fiction.”

There is so much about the film (and Bernie) that is odd, and often endearingly so. The story is structured around interviews of quirky and colorful local residents who are eager to share their thoughts about the crime. These are interspersed with re-enactments of the events as they unfolded in 1998. It’s at once funny and chilling that most everyone in town sides with Bernie even though he confessed to shooting an elderly woman four times in the back.

The offbeat tone of the film is established in the opening sequence in which a competent and cheerful Bernie demonstrates to a class of future-morticians how to make corpses look good. (You’d be surprised how much super glue comes in to play.) The pride he takes in his work, his respect for the deceased and their families, the sing-song delivery of well-chosen words, and his stereotypically homosexual mannerisms establish a character that’s both funny and intriguing. He has got to be the happiest mortician on the planet.

When we next see Bernie he’s on his way to Carthage for a new job, singing a peppy spiritual with comic gusto and abandon.  Right away, one wonders if anyone can truly be this upbeat. Is he up to something? Is this guy for real? Jack Black plays the character utterly devoid of guile, let alone malice. So when he settles in Carthage, becomes the most popular man in town, and then endeavors to befriend the recently widowed and infamously wretched Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine), it’s not hard to believe that he’s simply doing it out of kindness. Only one man, the local D.A., thinks Bernie connived his way into Mrs. Nugent’s life in order to get his hands on her fortune.

Bernie and Marjorie develop an unhealthy co-dependency that takes some surprising turns and brings up some needling questions. Who’s using who? And how calculating are either one of these characters? The film doesn’t really take a stand on this. It lets the locals say their piece, but ultimately it simply presents the facts without judgment or manipulation. They were friends, they travelled together, got spa treatments together, he made it into her will, and somewhere along the line Bernie went from being her constant companion to something of an indentured slave. Then one day he shot her.

Enter District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson (Matthew McConaughey), defense attorney Scrappy Holmes (Yes, these are their real names!) and a juicy trial that brought the media circus to small town Texas.

Most performances in the film are splendid, particularly the quirky “locals” who provide an often hilarious running commentary chock full of colloquialisms that ring surprisingly true (McConaughey’s mom, Kay McConaughey, among them.) Director Richard Linklater is from Austin, of course, but by way of east Texas originally. He knows these people and captures them well. Lest non-Texans think these are exaggerations, I can attest that I’d be rich if I had a dime for every time I’ve heard the expression “I guaran-damn-tee ya.” Yes, people really talk like that.

Jack Black’s earnest and sincere portrayal of Bernie is highlighted by his lovely singing voice. He has the opportunity to show off his pipes here and there’s no denying his musical talent when he’s not goofing around. He even does a bit of song-and-dance that impresses and makes one wonder what he could do with a shot on Broadway. Shirley MacLaine plays her familiar grumpy gussie without much subtext or humanity.

McConaughey shines as the D.A. who can’t believe his eyes and ears when an entire community (including the pastor) sides with the murderer. D. A. Davidson is a bit of an a-hole who mentions “closet homosexuals” more than necessary and asks Bernie on the witness stand if he knows what wine goes with fish… as if that’s somehow a damning factor in the trial. Though the D.A. may be a publicity-whoring jerk, he also happens to be right on at least one score: murder is murder, whether the victim was a total bitch or not.

The film’s only weakness is that it doesn’t seem to be quite sure what it wants to say about these proceedings. There isn’t much of a take-away when all is said and done, except that a good time was had at the movies.

It’s unclear how this will play outside of Texas, and it’s a hard film to categorize in general. It’s not exactly a dark comedy – it’s pretty darn perky. But there is the problem of a dead old bitch in a freezer. If offbeat is your cup of tea, I guaran-damn-tee you’ll like this one.

4 of 5 stars

SXSW screening of Bernie is Wednesday 3/14 at the Paramount Theater.