Lone Star Rising

Schumacher, like Herbert Ross, thinks McConaughey's success is more a product of hard work than chance.

"Matthew has extraordinary pride in his craft, but he also has a humility that's relatively rare in this town," Schumacher says. "I don't know if it's because of where he comes from or because of values instilled in him by his father and mother. But that might be why he talks so much about luck.

"It's pretty staggering to think that someone relatively unknown in our business, and totally unknown to John Grisham, got this role over anyone else--not because he lobbied for it, not because of his box office record, not because he's a friend of the director or the producer, and not because he was the only person available, but because he deserved it. It's simply an amazing thing.