Summary

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff talks with the cast of The Rivals of Amziah King at SXSW 2025.

‘The Rivals of Amziah King’ started as a miniseries but became a feature film that blend the honey industry with a Western.

Director and co-writer Andrew Patterson, Matthew McConaughey, Angelina LookingGlass, Cole Sprouse, Rob Morgan, Jake Horowitz, and Tony Revolori discuss taking big swings, supporting the indie community, and tales from set.

The McConaissance continues with Andrew Patterson’s star-studded musical Western, The Rivals of Amziah King, which celebrated its World Premiere at SXSW 2025.
Bringing folks to rural Oklahoma, Amziah King (Matthew McConaughey) is just as charismatic as he is musically talented. He’s also a man of many ventures. Besides herding a bluegrass-playing band of outcasts, Amziah also supervises a premiere honey-making operation. Just as he has his life in sweet order, Amziah’s estranged foster daughter (Angelina LookingGlass) shows up out of nowhere. He intends to welcome his child with open arms, possibly renewing their once-lost kinship, but when a couple of business rivals decide to unleash all hell, Amziah’s family business is on the brink of collapse.
Collider’s very own Perri Nemiroff had the opportunity to speak with director Patterson and cast members McConaughey, LookingGlass, Jake Horowitz, Rob Morgan, Tony Revolori, and Cole Sprouse at the Collider Media Studio at the Cinema Center. Throughout the conversation, Patterson shares how the project evolved from a miniseries to a feature film, LookingGlass reveals her acting goals, and McConaughey recalls his real-life mishap with bees. You can check out the full conversation in the video above or in the transcript below.
How ‘The Rivals of Amziah King Went from a Miniseries to a Feature Film

“I took the 360 pages and I cut it down, cut it down, cut it down.”

image via SXSW

PERRI NEMIROFF: I know a little bit about your movie, but because we’re celebrating it as a film festival debut, folks out there might not know anything just yet. Andrew, can you give us a brief synopsis of your film?
ANDREW PATTERSON: I will take it as far as it’s set in the honey industry, and it starts with our lead male here, Matthew [McConaughey], playing Amziah, who reconnects with his foster daughter, played by Angelina [LookingGlass], Kateri. And then a lot of other, let’s see, hijinks ensue —freewheeling chaos, anarchy.
MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY: A lot of music.
PATTERSON: Absolutely.
MCCONAUGHEY: Then, it becomes a Western.
PATTERSON: The second half of the movie’s a Western.

Image by Photagonist

Andrew, I’ve got a question about the story development because I was reading in another interview you did that, at one point, you were going to expand it into a miniseries. What sparked the itch to expand, and then when did you realize that it best suited the feature film format instead?
PATTERSON: Well, it was a smaller movie in about 2018, and then I had a lot of time on my hands to rewrite it a little bit and worked it into a full seven episodes, and it was many more pages. New characters got introduced, new dynamics. The character Amziah blossomed in that. And then as theaters started reopening, as things sort of changed around theaters becoming relevant again, I remembered falling back in love with cinema and decided, “I want to see if I can adapt this like a novel.” I took the 360 pages and I cut it down, cut it down, cut it down. Then Matthew and I met. He helped me cut it down even a little bit more, and he came on board to play the role, and now it’s this version.
I’m a big fan of your last feature, and I’m often curious about making the leap from first to second feature, because I feel there’s a misconception that when you make a first feature and people really like it, it can be easy to get the next one off the ground, but it’s been a little while since The Vast of Night. Can you walk us through some of the challenges you experienced and how you secured the green light for this movie?
PATTERSON: I did have tremendous opportunities after The Vast of Night. It was my plan, though, to try to stay with films that were handmade, that were organic to me, that were original. Not that I dislike studio movies, but I wanted something that had my fingerprints all over it. So, I worked on multiple scripts and ended up going back to this one out of the passion for telling something that actually took place in the place where I’m from.

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‘The Rivals of Amziah King’ Is Matthew McConaughey’s First Musical

“If it doesn’t make sense, well, it oughta.”

Matthew, I’ll come your way now to touch on signing on for this. It’s been a little while since you’ve done a live-action role in a feature film, so can you maybe tell me a little bit about why you knew you needed a break in that respect, and then what gave you the itch to not only jump back into it, but specifically to jump back into it with this film?
MCCONAUGHEY: 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 humor of it, the wild, anarchic humor of it. A father figure and a mentor and a wild ass, Amziah King, who gives misfits belonging is what he does.
I love that at the heart of the story, it’s a love story between her and I at the base of it. And then this is all the band. Amziah has taken folks in along the way. If it doesn’t make sense, well, it oughta. If it ain’t true, shit, say it quick. It will be. [Laughs] It’s a story I want to be part of, and it’s a story that I’m excited to be out there right now. So, 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. A lot of the world will look at this and go, “Who are those people? What planet is that that they’re living on?” Then tonight, at South by Southwest specifically, I think most everyone in that crowd will go, “I do know those people.”
I’ll ask you about finding your character now, especially because Andrew brought up that when he made the transition from series to feature, you came in and helped a little. I’ve heard it can be a nerve-wracking but exciting challenge for an actor when they jump into a new project because you’re on unsteady ground, but then you could have that “aha” moment where you realize, “I have just found my character.” Did you have that with Amziah, and if so, when?
MCCONAUGHEY: 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. I was saying this earlier, but he has a large side of doing things that he shouldn’t do because, at the same time, he’s whispering in his own ear that, “Even if I don’t pull this off, it’ll be a hell of a story.” 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 center of the universe when they’re around him.
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. This 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 meter in my own mind very quickly. I wanted to be a part of it.
Matthew McConaughey Shares Lessons Learned from First-Time Actress

“If someone can act honestly and respond honestly in front of a camera, you can’t really do any better acting than that.”

Image by Photagonist

Angelina, this is your first feature film, and that is a really big deal, and something that should be celebrated. I want to make sure our audience gets to know you a little bit, so I’ll give you a two-part question. First, going into the making of this movie, can you share a specific acting goal you had for yourself?
ANGELINA LOOKINGGLASS: Just making good work and having fun, and being proud of what I’m doing, and also with everyone else.
Now the back half – coming out of having made your first feature film, do you have a new goal, or a new tool in your toolkit that you want to use on your next project?
LOOKINGGLASS: I can’t wait to make another film or TV series and get to play a character that I really love and work with people that also share a love for what we do.
MCCONAUGHEY: I want to add this about Angelina, she was able to do that thing that a lot of us actors, once we learn how to act, forget how to do, which is just listen and behave, honestly. In that way, she doesn’t have any real takes that were wrong. You directed her, and she took direction, but she didn’t have a false note because she didn’t know how to lie. You know what I mean? We learn how to fib, and sometimes our fibs can be better than the truth, and it’s good, but if we remember that simple thing of sitting back and listening. I always say that if you watch a documentary, is there any better acting than somebody honestly reacting? We can go recreate it, maybe do a damn good job, but it’s not going to be any better. Anyway, that’s a gift she had. And she was comfortable in front of the camera. Just keep that along the way, wherever you go.
I’ll let you sing her praises a little more. You’re an icon in the industry, and when you’re newer, I feel like you look up to the icon, but there’s also a great opportunity to learn from a fresh perspective. So, even with all your experience, is there anything you saw her do that inspired you?
MCCONAUGHEY: Well, what I was just saying. That’s what’s fun about working with a non-actor who can also be themselves and behave honestly in front of a camera. They remind us, no matter how much we’ve learned, no matter how much we’ve been schooled or learned how to do the craft, the purity is that you can either do it or not. If someone can act honestly and respond honestly in front of a camera, you can’t really do any better acting than that. So, it simplifies everything.
Also, it’s a freedom for me to play around on this side of the camera because she’s going to react honestly to whatever I do. So, I can play around on this side of the camera to help her get to where she wants to go, because she’s just going to act honestly to it. She’s not going to give a false reaction to anything that I do. So, that’s a lot of fun to be on the other side of the camera.

Image by Photagonist

For the four of you now, I don’t know many specifics about your characters. I’m going to assume that all of you play characters that are in this community. So I don’t ask you to just tell me who you’re playing – can you each tell me something that your character gains from this community and also something they want to give back to it because they appreciate it?
COLE SPROUSE: My character’s easy. It’s financial stability. My character’s like an information broker, so I think he gains a lot of stability from working with the right people, and he gets involved in whatever it is at the right time.
MCCONAUGHEY: Just looking for a good hairline.
JAKE HOROWITZ: I think found family. I’ll speak for my character, for Remick. There’s a lot of love that I think he’s gained from being a part of this group that I don’t think he had that elsewhere growing up. So, that’s the story — this community and people coming together in chaotic ways, like bees, dare I say.
TONY REVOLORI: I think there’s a lot of kindness in Amziah. I think more than anything, [my character] wants to repay a kindness in any way, shape, or form. So, at the end of the day, that’s where that kind of comes in. And I think there’s a little bit of guilt and sorry, but, yeah, just repaying a debt, if anything.
ROB MORGAN: What I wanted to do was support Amziah and all his wild antics and his big character life, and then what I gained is a beautiful relationship with this young lady.
Rob Morgan and Matthew McConaughey Reconnect After 30 Years

“You were my first movie, man!”

Image by Photagonist

I’ll give you all a big group question because I love indie filmmaking, and I love the joy people have when they’re on set doing the work. I know we don’t want to spoil anything, but can you each recall the most joyful experience you had on this particular set while being an independent filmmaker?
MCCONAUGHEY: Singing. Pulling her out of her shell a little bit, Kateri, the character. I’m a character that likes to throw people right in the spotlight, whether they want to or not. There’s something that happened that night as we continued the take, like, “Just keep going, keep going, keep going.” We pushed it until magical stuff happened, some stuff that you can’t script. A lot of life. It’s a scene that kind of comes out of the screen and fills you up. I get the tingles when I see that scene.
MORGAN: For me, it was reconnecting with this man 30 years later from my very first film, Contact, where I ad-libbed some lines and then went and saw it. I didn’t know what to expect, and when I saw myself on screen, it really gave me the boost to pursue this profession. And then to share that with him on set, we’re sitting in the truck, and I’m like, “Man, you were my first movie, man!” Like, “Man, I can’t believe 30 years ago, and here I am acting with you now.” He’s like, “Hey, man, I’ve been doing this for 30 years just to come back and be with you.” It was like, wow. Just the way he was so cool about it. So, yeah, that was my real “aha” moment.
REVOLORI: I got to work with my older brother. He’s a stunt actor, and he got to do a nice little stunt for me, so that was really fun. It was great. Especially to do that on an indie movie was great. And then the second bit was, after we got the clearance to work after the strikes, I got to push a couple of barrels into the lake. That was just fun. I’ve always wanted to throw shit off of a bridge. Listen, I’m a kid at heart. It was fun! [Laughs]

Image by Photagonist

SPROUSE: My favorite moment, for the brief period of time I was there, was when Andrew brought in his brother to play a character in the set that I played in, and just tortured this guy.
PATTERSON: We shaved his eyebrows, we bleached his hair, we cut his hair down, we killed his mustache, we bleached his mustache, and then all he does is, like, pull a fry cooker out and look at Cole. That’s it. He’s an extra.
SPROUSE: For two seconds. For two seconds.

Image by Photagonist

JAKE HOROWITZ: Man, every day. But really, the first day. Andrew gave me basically my first job in a movie since eight years ago now. So, just day one, showing up to act alongside these totally incredible people and experiencing that. Also, there’s a scene early on. Sometimes the best thing is when you prepare something, and somebody does something that totally throws you off, and you just go, “Oh, that’s so much better. That’s exactly right.” [Tony] laughed at something that I said, and I was like, “That’s perfect. That’s the two of them. That’s it. They shit around with each other.” That was it, and you find it on camera. It’s the best feeling ever.
I live for moments like that. To follow up on that, because you’ve worked together before, is there anything you saw him do on this set that made even you go, “My god, I knew you were a good director, but I never realized you’d be capable of that?”
HOROWITZ: I’ve got to be honest, not so much. His style of directing has remained basically the same. He’s sitting there with the monitor, and it’s very easy to forget that you’re going to end up somewhere 20 feet tall. I mean, you’re just sitting, talking. I think he does a lot, actually, to keep that environment special. It was the consistency of that rather than being shocked by anything new, honestly.

Image by Photagonist

LOOKINGGLASS: Every day was just really wonderful. Just having to be under everybody’s wing was really nice. I learned a lot. Particular scenes that I wasn’t in, just watching everybody work and everything was really nice. I cherish those memories.
Matthew McConaughey Got Stung By a Bee 10 Days Before Production Started

“I found out real quickly I was highly allergic.”

Image by Photagonist

MCCONAUGHEY: My favorite moment was probably getting stung by that bee 10 days before production started. Because I found out real quickly I was highly allergic. If I would’ve got stung by a bee in the scene, which there are many bees in the movie, I would have been out, not able to be on camera for five or six days. So, I got stung early. I was still pretty nervous there at the end because there were only 10,000 of those son of a guns, man. But we made sure that I was picking up that massive amount of bees on the last day. We made sure it was the last day.
PATTERSON: We had some good producing.
MCCONAUGHEY: Good producing, good scheduling. Because if I do get bit, I’m done for five days. That’s right. “We’ve already used that McConaughey. We’ve got him shot out.”
REVOLORI: Who got stung?
MCCONAUGHEY: I did! You were there.
LOOKINGGLASS: I got stung. Day one.
MCCONAUGHEY: You’re not allergic?
LOOKINGGLASS: No.
MCCONAUGHEY: I’m allergic. Very. I found out.

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PATTERSON: They’re talking about a lot of different things in vague terms because no one’s seen the film yet. The reality is, we’ve now talked about music, bees, stunts. Something I’m proud of with this movie is we all got to do something very bold and took some real swings, and I haven’t seen a lot of that lately, and that’s all I want to do. I can’t thank these people enough for going on that journey and taking that bold swing. I really hope that that’s what people take away and experience when they watch The Rivals of Amziah King.
To wrap here, Andrew, I wrote something down from your director’s statement that I wanted to touch on. You talked a lot about the handmade aspect, which I also appreciate, but right at the beginning you said, “I grew up in Oklahoma and never left. The idea of moving away from my community to go make movies didn’t feel like a path in which I would have flourished.” I just found that so fascinating, because there are so many aspiring filmmakers who think they need to make movies in the system, and that’s the only way to do it. So, if someone out there wants to be a filmmaker but stay in their community and do it their way, what advice would you give them?
PATTERSON: First of all, go out and fail, and go out and do it again, and get a little better and get a little better. Build a community where people are excited and believe in your vision. Oddly enough, that was Texas for me. I made my first film here. I made it on I-35 in Hillsboro, Texas. That also happened here. But I believe that the number one thing you need is people around you who believe in what you’re doing and are willing to go into hell with you. That’s going to be what every indie filmmaker needs to do is stick to their guns and try everything until you start to succeed. That’s all I can say when it comes to that.
Special thanks to our 2025 partners at SXSW, including presenting partner Rendezvous Films and supporting partners Bloom, Peroni, Hendrick’s Gin, and Roxstar Entertainment.

The Rivals of Amziah King

Release Date

March 10, 2025

Runtime

130 minutes

Director

Andrew Patterson

Writers

Andrew Patterson

Producers

David Heyman, Jeffrey Clifford, Teddy Schwarzman, John Friedberg, Will Greenfield, Michael Heimler