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Matthew McConaughey Set To Enjoy ‘Billionaire’s Vinegar,’ To Be Honored By New Orleans Film Society

By Nicole Nolan
Published on: 00:16 PST, Mar 27, 2015

Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey is set to star in the film adaptation of Benjamin Wallace’s The Billionaire’s Vinegar.

As first reported by Deadline, McConaughey’s reps, CAA, have confirmed his participation in the movie, produced by Escape Artists and Overbrook Entertainment, who first acquired the rights back in 2008 before the book had even been published. The script is written by Michael Brandt and Derek Hass, of Wanted and 3:10 To Yuma fame.

The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine studies the scandal surrounding a cache of wine bottles auctioned by Christie’s, purportedly once owned by Thomas Jefferson himself, which were subsequently branded fakes.

As Variety reported, a Forbes family member paid “$156,000 at auction for a bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafite Bordeaux […] That bottle led to a lawsuit by wine collector Bill Koch against wine merchant Hardy Rodenstock, alleging that he had orchestrated a fraud against wine collectors. A default judgment was entered against Rodenstock in May 2010.”

It is unclear as yet which role Matthew McConaughey will be playing.

Currently, McConaughey is in New Orleans shooting the Civil War drama, Free State Of Jones, directed by Gary Ross and co-starring Keri Russell. Matthew’s presence in the town is opportune, as he is to be presented with the New Orleans Film Society’s annual Celluloid Hero Award in a ceremony to be held during the Society’s annual fundraising Patron Party and Gala tomorrow night, March 28.

According to NOLA, the award is bestowed “to a cinema luminary in recognition of outstanding service to the art of motion pictures.” It probably helps, also, that a wide selection of McConaughey’s work has been New Orleans-based, including Dallas Buyers Club, True Detective, and Failure to Launch. The Society’s Board President, Alexa Georges, seemed very content with the Society’s choice of recipient for the award this year.

“It seems so apropos that in the New Orleans Film Society’s 25th year, we honor and celebrate Matthew McConaughey, one of the greatest actors of the last 25 years, with our Celluloid Hero award.”

It appears McConaughey has been somewhat of a hero in real life, too. After Hurricane Katrina, Matthew volunteered to help care for animals that had become stranded after the 2005 storm. This surely serves to lend weight to McConaughey’s refutation of allegations concerning a canned hunting ranch last month. As the Inquisitr reported, Matthew had received death threats from animal rights activists over deer stalking on the Texas ranch, once co-owned with his brother and from which McConaughey had sold his interest back in 2011. The actor denied the allegations, clarifying that although the deer were present, the purpose of the ranch was primarily for cattle herds and horse breeding.

Matthew McConaughey can be seen in Free State of Jones when the film is released on March 11, 2016.

[Image courtesy of Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]

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