Matthew McConaughey enjoyed performing musical numbers in The Rivals of Amziah King

Matthew McConaughey says his new movie ‘The Rivals of Amziah King’ is “arguably a musical”.

The 55-year-old actor performs six musical numbers in the new flick and was intrigued by the performative nature in the Western crime thriller – in which he plays the titular role.

Matthew told Collider: “I just found that there’s poetry in that guy, in that voice. The life, the way he moves, everything’s musical. The way he hears.

“The film is very musical, and it’s arguably a musical. Six tunes in it that we sing and perform. It’s literally kind of a musical and just the musicality of the relationships and the dialogue I was just attracted to. I heard the metre in my own mind very quickly. I wanted to be a part of it.”

‘The Rivals of Amziah King’ was initially conceived as a TV mini-series before becoming a film and McConaughey had an immediate understanding of the character he plays in Andrew Patterson’s project.

The Oscar-winning actor said: “I think I understood Amziah pretty well, pretty early. Since Andrew wrote it and was gonna be directing it, we spent a lot of time talking about the conception of the character – larger than life, yeah, but still realistic.

“The legend in his own story? Damn right. Every time. Whether he pulls it off or not.”

Matthew added: “An aristocrat of the heart is Amziah. As I said, a giver of belonging, leader of the band, but loves for any of the bandmates to take the spotlight. He makes people the centre of the universe when they’re around him.”

The project is McConaughey’s first role in a live-action feature film for several years and he admits that the “original” premise of the flick tempted him back after a hiatus from the screen.

He explained: “I didn’t feel like I needed a break. I just ended up taking a break, did other things, wrote a book. I really enjoyed that. Another version of storytelling with less filters.

“I did a few other things there along the way, and then this came along. Original voice, original place, time, space, the language, the poetry, the musicality of it, the innocence of it, the humour of it, the wild, anarchic humour of it.

“A father figure and a mentor and wild ass, Amziah King, who gives misfits belonging is what he does.”

Matthew admits that he found it easy to connect to the story as he identified with both the characters and setting.

He said: “When I read it, I knew the people. I knew the places. I’ve been around them. They’re on the outskirts of places even I’ve lived.”