Woody Harrelson wanted to punch Matthew McConaughey in the face for his ‘True Detective’ method acting

Woody Harrelson is sharing some of the frustrations he had for his True Detective co-star Matthew McConaughey while they were filming the critically acclaimed show.

McConaughey recently guested on Harrelson and Ted Danson‘s podcast Where Everybody Knows Your Name, where Harrelson said there were “so many times” that he wanted to “punch” McConaughey for his method acting in season 1 of True Detective.

“He’s method,” Harrelson said. “When we were shooting, he was Rust Cohle. There [were] so many times I wanted to punch this m*********** in the face. I’m so pissed at him cause he’s in his character.”

Harrelson and McConaughey played investigators hunting a serial killer in Louisiana on the show. McConaughey said on the podcast that he had to stay stoic between takes in order to stay in the headspace of his character.

“We’re sitting there. We’re about to start shooting, and we were rehearsing,” McConaughey said. “I’m just kind of being stoic Rust Cohle. Woody goes, like, ‘Hey man, I need to talk to you about something.’ He goes, ‘The way you and I work, McConaughey, I hit you the ball, you hit it back, I hit it back to you. We volley, we play. … Man, that’s us. It’s dramatic, and it’s also comedy.'”

Harrelson said he suggested the show was too dark and that they should add in some moments of levity.

“I remember saying to [McConaughey] before we started filming, I’m like, ‘Dude, people are gonna expect to laugh with us. We gotta throw some jokes in here.’ He’s just like, ‘Mhm.’ … I’m waiting for him to say, ‘Yeah, you’re totally’ — no, none of that. He just, ‘Mhm, yeah.’”