Tag: Matthew McConaughey

  • Lionsgate roars louder as Hollywood meets Hyderabad in 2026

    Lionsgate roars louder as Hollywood meets Hyderabad in 2026

    MUMBAI: Hollywood’s roaring lion just found its desi accent. Lionsgate Play, the premium streaming platform that’s redefined Hollywood for Indian screens, is entering 2026 with a bang and a hundred more. The platform has announced a record-breaking slate of 100 plus premieres across languages, cementing its claim as India’s “Home for Action” while widening its cinematic jungle to embrace regional storytelling.

    In just five years, Lionsgate Play has grown from a niche Hollywood service into a full-blown entertainment powerhouse now reaching over 40 million viewers through a vast distribution network that stretches from metros to mini-screens. Its latest evolution? A blend of blockbuster swagger and local soul.

    2025 was the turning point. With audiences increasingly vibing to Southern storytelling, Lionsgate Play turned its camera beyond Los Angeles, premiering Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam titles like Dakshina, Eleven, Soothravakyam, and Racharikam. The result was pure box-office streaming energy, a 40 per cent surge in consumption, even as the global industry reeled from the Hollywood strikes of 2024.

    And now, 2026 promises an even bolder leap. The platform’s upcoming lineup is stacked like never before, a global-meets-local buffet of spectacle and storytelling.

    The Hollywood big guns are back: From Gerard Butler’s Greenland: Migration to Angelina Jolie’s Kiss of the Spider Woman, and from Mutiny to The Rivals of Amziah King, the slate packs serious star wattage with the likes of Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Alba, and Matthew McConaughey.

    The South stays strong: Building on its regional momentum, Lionsgate Play is rolling out 25 plus Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada titles, ensuring that cinematic flavour flows from both sides of the equator.

    The Hindi turn: The streamer is also going desi in Delhi expanding into Hindi originals with a curated mix of crime thrillers, horror comedies, and game shows, each designed to tap India’s ever-evolving taste for drama with a twist.

    And the classics never fade: In between the new, Lionsgate Play is doubling down on its cult collection. Think Sherlock meets Spider-Man, Rambo joins Men in Black, and Charlie Chaplin shares screen space with Jumanji and Anaconda. A line-up tailor-made for every mood, every generation.

    “Our journey so far has been defined by bold storytelling and a deep understanding of what today’s audience seeks quality, variety, and authenticity,” said Lionsgate Play Asia president Rohit Jain. “2026 marks a turning point. We’re scaling our stories, deepening regional connections, and making premium global entertainment more inclusive and accessible than ever before.”

    With its expanding footprint and its eye firmly on cultural inclusivity, Lionsgate Play is no longer just Hollywood’s Indian outpost, it’s a full-fledged entertainment ecosystem where Los Angeles meets Lucknow, and where cinematic worlds collide, connect, and click ‘Play’.

  • Celebs share their go-to favourite recipes on Audible’s ‘Your Mama’s Kitchen’ podcast

    Celebs share their go-to favourite recipes on Audible’s ‘Your Mama’s Kitchen’ podcast

    Mumbai: Step into the kitchen with some of today’s most influential figures across the world as they share cherished recipes and heartwarming stories of their childhood in the Audible Original podcast ‘Your Mama’s Kitchen.’ From former first lady Michelle Obama’s childhood favourites to Hollywood power couple Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves McConaughey’s family traditions, this podcast serves up a delectable blend of nostalgia, culture, and culinary delights. Here, we take you through the cherished moments of their lives as we explore the recipes derived from their personal experiences and memories!

    Michelle Obama | Recipe for Red Rice

    Michelle Obama shares her family’s cherished recipe for red rice, a dish rooted in her South Carolina heritage. Reflecting on how she was influenced by all the things that she saw and experienced in that little old kitchen, she said, “The conversations around my household about fairness and honesty and how to be a person in this world, how to treat others, the compassion that all happened around the table, either by spoken word or story, or just watching my father pay the bills every week at that table. The humour that I have, my ability to tell stories and laugh at myself and laugh at the world, it happened at that table, those stories happen there in that little bitty kitchen.”

    Ingredients:

    •    One cup of long grain white rice
    •    One chopped white onion
    •    One ½ cup of tomato juice
    •    One teaspoon kosher salt
    •    One teaspoon pepper
    •    One dash of tabasco
    •    One cup crumbled bacon
    •    ¼ tablespoon bacon drippings
    •    500 gm chopped shrimp
    •    500 gm sausage roll

    Method:

    1.    Cook the bacon until crispy, then set it aside and save the drippings.
    2.    Cook the shrimp separately, either by steaming or sautéing, and set them aside.
    3.    Crumble and crisp up the sausage, drain the grease, and set it aside as well.
    4.    Sauté the chopped onion in the reserved bacon drippings until golden brown, then set it aside.
    5.    In a large saucepan, combine the uncooked rice, tomato juice, salt, pepper, and Tabasco sauce according to package instructions.
    6.    Once the rice is cooked, mix in the cooked shrimp, crumbled bacon , and sausage.
    7.    Stir everything together well and enjoy your delicious dish!

    Andy Garcia | Recipe for Fricase de Pollo

    Andy Garcia enjoys cooking, making it a full-day event filled with music, dancing, and plenty of garlic. His crowd-pleasing recipe requires starting the night before to ensure tender and flavorful meat, but the effort is worth it for the delicious outcome. Talking about the profound connection between food and cherished memories, Andy shares “A curious thing about food is that it brings back very particular memories. Taste, smell… induces this kind of nostalgic times in your life that hopefully are positive, you know?”

    Ingredients:

    •    Two to three kilograms of chicken thighs
    •    Ten garlic cloves
    •    One cup of lime juice and one cup of orange juice combined
    •    Three large onions, sliced
    •    Three sliced peppers (green, red, and yellow), one of each for colour
    •    Two small cans of tomato paste
    •    Salt to taste
    •    One can of green peas
    •    ¼ cup of olive oil
    •    One cup of raisins
    •    ½ cup of pitted green olives
    •    Two teaspoons of capers
    •    ½ teaspoon of black pepper
    •    One cup of Spanish dry sherry wine (or substitute apple cider vinegar if needed)
    •    500 grams of potatoes, cut into pieces

    Method:

    1.    The night before, marinate the chicken in a glass container with chopped garlic, onions, green peppers, salt, black pepper, and a mix of lime and orange juice. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
    2.    When cooking, heat oil and brown the chicken, then set it aside.
    3.    In the same casserole, sauté onions, peppers, and garlic from the marinade. Add sherry wine to deglaze the pan.
    4.    Stir in tomato paste, raisins, olives, capers, salt, and pepper.
    5.    Add the chicken to the casserole and mix well.
    6.    Add enough water to barely cover the chicken and cook over medium-low heat until the chicken is tender.
    7.    In the last thirty to 45 minutes of cooking, add the potatoes to cook.
    8.    Serve the fricassee with sliced ripe plantains (cooking bananas) fried in vegetable oil and white rice.

    Matthew McConaughey & Camila Alves McConaughey | Recipe for Brazilian Chicken Stroganoff

    Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves McConaughey discuss how their childhood kitchens influenced their identities and relationships, revealing their approach to resolving conflicts with tea and tequila. Matthew recounts, “But the kitchen is where everything went down. The kitchen’s where we cried when our heart was broken from a girlfriend breaking up. The kitchen’s where my brother Pat got in trouble for getting caught with the bag of weed. Then the kitchen’s where we said our gratitude and prayers around the lazy Susan. The kitchen’s where we told stories, where I learned as a youngster in my family, if you want to get a story, you better hit the gap because a gap is not going to be there in the conversation long.”

    Ingredients:

    •    3 tablespoons avocado oil
    •    6 cloves of garlic, smashed or grated
    •    One teaspoon salt
    •    One medium-sized diced white onion
    •    One tablespoon achiote annatto powder (orange-red condiment for food colouring)
    •    One medium-sized quartered fresh tomato
    •    3 bone-in split chicken breasts with skin
    •    ¼ red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
    •    4 cups of water (divided in half)
    •    ¼ cup of chopped cilantro
    •    One-Two bay leaves
    •    Two tablespoons of media crema (table cream); no liquid chill the entire can in the refrigerator, cream will rise to the top
    •    One cup of canned corn
    •    ⅓ cup of sliced pitted green olives

    FOR SERVING:

    •    Shoestring potato sticks
    •    Cooked rice

    Method:

    1.    In a large soup pot over medium heat, add avocado oil, smashed garlic, and salt. Stir until garlic is fragrant.
    2.    Add diced onions and cook until translucent. Then, add quartered tomatoes and cook until soft and mushy.
    3.    Push ingredients to the side and add annatto powder to the middle of the pot. Let it cook briefly, then mix with other ingredients to form a paste.
    4.    Place chicken skin side down in the pot to brown. After a few minutes, push ingredients aside and add bell peppers.
    5.    Pour enough water to cover the chicken (about four cups). Add cilantro and bay leaves.
    6.    Cover the pot, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for two-three hours until chicken is tender and can be easily shredded.
    7.    Remove chicken from the pot, let it cool, then shred meat, discarding bones and skin. Reserve broth for other recipes.
    8.    In a large skillet over medium heat, add shredded chicken and Two tablespoons of media crema (table cream), mixing until well combined.
    9.    Stir in canned corn and sliced green olives, heating until warmed through. Add reserved broth if needed for the required consistency.
    10.    Serve your Brazilian Chicken Stroganoff over rice, topped with potato sticks.

     

  • Oscar nominee Matthew McConaughey will star in Gus Van Sant’s next film

    Oscar nominee Matthew McConaughey will star in Gus Van Sant’s next film

    MUMBAI: Matthew McConaughey, who recently won the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award for his performance in Dallas Buyers Club and has been nominated for the coveted Academy Award, has been cast in Gus Van Sant’s upcoming film along with Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai).

     

    Based on a script by Chris Sparling (Buried), the story of Sea of Trees follows an American man played by McConaughey, who takes a journey into the infamous “Suicide Forest” at the foothills of Mount Fuji with the intention of taking his own life. When he is interrupted by a Japanese man played by Watanabe, who has had second thoughts about his own suicide, and is trying to find his way out of the forest, the two begin a journey of reflection and survival.

     

    Gus Van Sant was nominated for an Academy Award for helming the Matt Damon starrer Good Will Hunting and the Sean Penn starrer Milk, for which Penn won the Best Actor Oscar. In addition to Dallas Buyers Club, McConaughey was last seen in The Wolf of Wall Street and can also be seen in the HBO Original series True Detective, currently airing in India on HBO Defined.

  • ‘True Detective’ gets off to a great start

    ‘True Detective’ gets off to a great start

    MUMBAI: Early buzz suggests that HBO’s brand new original series True Detective, which premiered in India on HBO Defined on 19 January, may well turn out a winner.

     

    With all eight episodes penned by novelist Nic Pizzolatto and directed by Cary Fukunaga, the opening season of the crime drama examines a grisly Louisiana crime through the eyes of the detectives who handled the case.

     

    Matthew McConaughey – who just won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Male Actor in a Leading Role for his turn in the Oscar-nominated Dallas Buyers Club – and Woody Harrelson play detectives Rustin ‘Rust’ Cohle and Martin Hart, respectively, as they recall the gruesome murder of former prostitute Dora Kelly Lange, whose body is found with a symbol painted on the back and a ‘crown’ of deer antlers on the head. With the narrative yo-yoing between the 90s when the crime actually took place and present-day, flashback is extensively used.

     

    Speaking to indiantelevision.com about the new series, HBO India managing director Monica Tata said that all HBO originals – series and movies made for HBO by HBO – were classified as premium content and were aired only on HBO Premium channels, that is HBO Hits and HBO Defined, without being punctuated by advertisements or breaks.

     

    “HBO Originals are path-breaking content made for HBO by HBO, which is what makes them premium. Watch these award winning dramas, with stellar performances from the biggest names in Hollywood, 100 per cent ad-free, only on the HBO Premium Channels,” informed Tata. “Apart from being ad-free and break-free on HBO premium channels, HBO originals are available within a week of the US premiere, which sets them apart from competition on other English GECs. As True Detective will be airing on the HBO Premium channels, no ads or breaks will be seen during the show. Each episode is close to 60 minutes in length, which TV lovers can watch on HBO Defined 100% ad-free and break free.”

     

    Asked if the series is suitable for prime time viewing, Tata replied: “HBO is known for its award-winning and critically acclaimed HBO original series and movies that air at prime time on HBO Premium channels, within a week of the US premiere. HBO originals are a key driver of our programming strategy for our premium channels and give consumers 100% ad-free entertainment.”

     

    So how many seasons of True Detective do they plan to air? “The only TV series that HBO airs on its channels are HBO and Cinemax originals. Our content rights are for all commissioned seasons. As and when new seasons are added, rights for the same are acquired for the region,” she said.

     

    Given the dark nature of the series, were there a lot of cuts? “All content that airs on our linear channels in India is edited to meet the expectations and requirements of the Indian market. Our content team takes great care to edit content in ways such that we can align these expectations without compromising on the viewing experience. Our target audience is in the age group of 15-44,” she responded.

     

    What was the marketing strategy? “Our overall marketing message is focused on promoting HBO originals as cornerstones of the HBO experience. For the same, we have adopted a 360-degree approach that communicates with prospective subscribers of HBO premium channels from all directions and across long periods of time,” informed Tata.

     

    So will audiences see more such gripping and compelling dramas now that True Detective is already on air? “HBO premium channels air a wide range of HBO original content. Starting with True Detective, viewers will get to see Hollywood’s biggest names in TV series and movies made by HBO for HBO. HBO originals have been a key part of the programming strategy for HBO premium channels since their launch in 2013. New seasons and series’ premieres for 2014 begin airing mid-January onwards. In 2014, not only will HBO Premium Pack subscribers get to watch the latest HBO original series such as True Detective, the year will also be filled with new seasons of existing popular HBO original shows such as Game of ThronesThe NewsroomBoardwalk Empire, and many more,” Tata answered.

     

    She emphasised that since HBO premium channels are completely ad-free and break-free there is no sponsorship or on-air advertising. They are available for subscription on all major DTH and cable platforms across India, with a reach of approximately 30 million homes. The primary viewership, like other English movie channels, comes from metro audiences. The rights to broadcast all HBO original content rest with HBO Asia.