Are Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson Really ‘Brothers’?

For years, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson have been wondering if they could be half brothers. Ever since McConaughey’s mother, Kay McConaughey, aka “Ma Mac,” first implied that she had relations with Harrelson’s father, Charles Harrelson, around the time that McConaughey was conceived, the actors have spent so much time wondering if they could actually be related that they decided to turn their wild story into a scripted TV comedy.

In their new Apple series, Brothers, that infamous tale appears in the pilot when Holland Taylor, playing Ma Mac, drops the bomb on Harrelson, who doesn’t have the guts to tell McConaughey right away. The Hollywood friends of three decades star in the show as fictionalized versions of themselves — a la Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm. The series pulls from their real friendship and lives — like McConaughey running for Texas governor, for example — as the best buds embark on an eight-episode journey to figure out if they are related, and if they want to find out for sure with a DNA test.

The format launches the prestige actors into a new era. “If you look at their filmographies, it’s astounding. It would be hard to point to two other actors who have the kind of range and breadth they have,” showrunner Lee Eisenberg tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I think this show delighted them, and they were really excited to do it.” Below, Eisenberg talks to THR about what it’s like to improv with the pals and confirms that by the finale the show will draw a conclusion about the infamous Ma Mac story — and how he hopes it launches another season, at least.

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How do Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, who have known about this half brother possibility, approach you and say, “Let’s turn this into a TV show”?

It came from Matthew and Woody in the first place. I flew out to Texas and met the guys at Matthew’s house. I wanted to hear from them. From the beginning, I said to them, “This isn’t a documentary, so download me with all the information and all the stories and all the craziness. I want to hear about the real Ma Mac, but ultimately at the end of the day, much like Curb Your Enthusiasm, we’re going to take your life and we’re going to fictionalize it, and we’re going to take the parts that make the most sense and turn the knobs up a little bit.”

The guys were completely game for that, and it was a great collaboration. Matthew’s a best-selling writer. Woody has been on sets directing himself. They’re amazing storytellers in their own right. So my job often was to listen to the two of them riff about whatever and then feverishly write as fast as I could and put it into the half-hour format.

Matthew and Woody told me there was interest from several studios. But the show was already attached to Apple when they came to you?

Yes. I’m sure they would have gotten a bidding war. The two of them in any room, I can’t imagine anyone saying no to them.

It could have been a documentary. Why land on doing this Curb style?

I think the guys are huge fans of Curb, so the idea of taking a fictionalized version of their lives where they could play themselves and send themselves up was very appealing to them. Not everyone in their family is in show business. So both for the purposes of their own families and also for comedic effect, it’s probably much more useful having Holland Taylor playing your mom, for example, then your mom [playing your mom].

This entire premise is pretty unique and different than the rest of their IMDB pages. They’ve done comedy and rom-coms but also many prestige projects. Do you think this is their next era in Hollywood?

The great, great thing about Matthew and Woody as performers and actors is that they’re both chameleons. If you look at their filmographies, it’s astounding. To be the leading man in romantic comedies, and then all of a sudden you’re in True Detective and Dallas Buyers Club? And Woody’s in Natural Born Killers but also in Cheers? Like, that’s very odd. It would be hard to point to two other actors who have the kind of range and breadth they have. I think this show delighted them and they were really excited to do it.

The nice thing about television, if you think about what the year after might look like, is that this takes up the entire year for me, but for an actor, it takes up a third or a quarter of the year. They love to work, and love to challenge themselves. I think they like having multiple things, like jumping from this to do a thriller or a horror or period piece — whatever comes their way that speaks to them and excites them. I think these are two guys who jump in feet first everywhere.

Was there a learning curve on set to them playing fictionalized versions of themselves?

They embraced it wholeheartedly. The way I like to approach my sets is that I spend a tremendous amount of time getting scripts to a place where I’m proud of them. But I know that as soon as we get to set, anything can happen. I’m really open to that kind of experience. You show up at a location, and it’s a little bit different than the way I had scripted it; I’m not trying to make the location fit my script. I’m trying now to make the scene fit the location.

Matthew and Woody and I would go off with the director, and we’d be rewriting in the corner. I’d watch a take and all of a sudden, an extra comes by and does something that’s not expected. I’m whispering something in Woody’s ear so that the next take throws Matthew off, so you get a better reaction. I want it to feel as alive as possible. I want every take to feel different so that in the editing room, I can have the scene be a little longer or have it be really tight. Or I can have an emotional ending. I want options so I can build it with all of the different building blocks.

Woody is more for taking the DNA test, and Matthew is against the test. He says it would leave him with too much unpack about his own family and late father. Is there a conclusion by the end of this series that’s drawn by the finale?

We draw a conclusion at the end of the series, yes.

Does that also wrap the series, or do you think there could be a season two?

I would love for the show to go on for a very long time. The season definitely ends on a cliffhanger. But there’s a potential throw-forward that I designed, and I hope I am able to see that through.

In real life, did making the show change either of their minds, or are they both firmly still on opposing sides of this DNA-test predicament?

I’m not sure where they land. I believe that Matthew still does not want to take the DNA test. I have not asked him directly what he thinks that DNA test might hold.

What do you think: Do you think they’re brothers?

If they’re not brothers, then there’s something in the water in Texas. I have not met many people who are not related that have as many mannerisms and similarities as they do. When you see our poster and those two heads up against one another, it’s a little uncanny.

Their Emmys presenting bit was a perfect intro to this show.

That’s definitely an energy that the show has, yes.

What were you thinking when you saw Woody crashing the Widow’s Bay team’s acceptance speech?

(Laughs.) Well, Katie Dippold, who created Widow’s Bay, is one of my oldest friends. So I’m looking at Katie and so excited for my friend who’s been working on that script for 18 years, and then looking at my friend Woody who is just standing right behind them, almost like Forrest Gump. It was this delightful, crazy moment, and now every picture Katie has of the Emmys has Woody Harrelson in the back. It kind of feels perfect.

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Brothers‘ first two episodes are now streaming on Apple TV, with new episodes releasing weekly Wednesdays on Apple TV. Read THR‘s (hilarious) interview with McConaughey and Harrelson.