Matthew McConaughey Puts His Shirt Back On for New Thriller

Holy crap... Matthew McConaughey has got a new film on the way, and it doesn't require him to be topless, nor does it require him to busy himself with sports and women! Instead, he's tapping into the old days of A Time to Kill and loving law once again. Empire reports that McConaughey has signed on to star in a new legal thriller called The Lincoln Lawyer, based on Michael Connelly's book.

McConaughey will play Mickey Haller, a "Lincoln lawyer" who is so low on the law totem pole that he works out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car and defends drunk drivers, con artists, and the other stellar parts of humanity. Then a rich Beverly Hills playboy gets arrested for attacking a woman and he chooses Haller to defend him. The lawyer, in turn, thinks it will be a piece of cake until the usual thriller fare bubbles up -- someone Haller knows is murdered, and he has to make sure he isn't next on the chopping block.

This is one of those star-before-the-meat projects that hasn't even been adapted yet, and doesn't have a director, so we've got a long way to go until a fully dressed McConaughey hits the big screen. This sounds better than much of his recent fare ... but I still want him to tap into more retro Wooderson. The man doesn't only need clothes -- he needs a good indie.