You may know the story — Matthew McConaughey‘s mother once told him that she knew Woody Harrelson‘s father right around the time McConaughey was conceived, creating a possible scenario where the two may be half-brothers.
The rumor is now being taken to the next level with Brothers, an Apple TV comedy where McConaughey and Harrelson play versions of themselves who uncover a family secret that they may be related. There is, of course, an actual way that the two could find out the truth, as The Hollywood Reporter asked at the show’s L.A. premiere on Thursday if they would ever take a DNA test.
“I’ve been wanting to but he refuses,” Harrelson explained, as McConaughey replied, “I’ll probably come around to it” but added, “If it’s true, I got a lot to unpack. If it’s not true, he’s not gonna be near as fun to hang out with.”
Harrelson admitted, I’m going to be really sad
Harrelson admitted, “I’m going to be really sad for a while if it’s not true,” which seems to be McConaughey’s main deterrent to the test, as theInterstellar star joked, “Let’s just keep floating this idea, because I don’t want him being all upset.” Harrelson was quick to reply, “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem because I think we’re brothers;” McConaughey confirmed, “He’s fully convinced, I’m not. There we go.”
The two stars — who previously shared the screen on season one of True Detective — also mused on playing themselves on camera for the first time. McConaughey said it was “More of an adjustment than I expected” and Harrelson explained it was “much harder than you would think, really. I was doing some weird, giggly, stupid performance and then I saw it and I was like ‘Oh my god, I hope we do reshoots.’ We did, so that was good,” teasing he told the director, “I don’t like that me, can we do it again?”
Lee Eisenberg, who was behind Jury Duty and Lessons in Chemistry, serves as showrunner for the series, which sees Holland Taylor playing McConaughey’s mother and the pair’s wives and children also recast.
“Their families would be there on the set, just hanging out at Video Village, watching versions of themselves. The whole thing was very surreal,” Eisenberg recalled, while also emphasizing that “I never wanted this to feel like a documentary” and the actors took some liberties to play up their personas. As for if he believes the two are actually brothers after working on the show, Eisenberg admitted, “I go back and forth. When you see the pictures of the two of them [from growing up] side-by-side, it feels a little uncanny.”
Brothers starts streaming Sept. 23 on Apple TV.
