Matthew "Bongoes" McConaughey - the man, the myth, the legend and Hollywood's foremost naked jazz percussionist - loves us and wants us to be happy. That's why he's working hard to get two new films off the ground, as news emerges today that Jennifer Garner is on the verge of signing to play his love interest in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, and that McC himself will be taking Owen Wilson's cameo in Tropic Thunder.
Ghosts, for those of you not keeping up at the back, is about a charming womaniser (guess who. No, go on, guess! Oh, right first time) who is visited by the apparitions of girlfriends past, present and future while attending his younger brother's wedding. In true Dickensian style, he soon realises that he must change his ways, and that his childhood sweetheart (Garner) is the girl he should be with. Romance, we're guessing, ensues. Mean Girls director Mark Waters is calling the shots, with shooting due to start in January. Garner, incidentally, is apparently playing Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac on Broadway at the moment, so go see that cause it's a fab play.
But McConaughey's also agreed to take over Owen Wilson's uncredited cameo in Tropic Thunder, the Ben Stiller film about a group of actors playing soldiers who are caught up in a real war. The film is shooting in Hawaii, with Stiller, Jack Black, Steve Coogan, Nick Nolte, Bill Hader and the great Robert Downey Jr. McConaughey will join the cast for a week to film his role. Obviously that news is bittersweet at best - everyone would be happier if Wilson was on his feet and fit to work, but if anyone's got to step into Wilson's shoes, McConaughey isn't a bad choice. Let's hope that Tropic Thunder now has a smooth ride and that, more importantly, Owen Wilson is healthy and happy and back to work soon.