Another awards ceremony, more tributes and praise for Matthew McConaughey. The compelling upturn in the actor’s reputation and prestige was celebrated at the American Cinematheque gala on Tuesday evening, at which he won their annual Award in recognition of his contributions to cinema.

Matthew McConaughey
Matthew Mcconaughey was honored by the American Cinematheque Award he received Tuesday

McConaughey, 44, was honoured at the annual event and during his speech, he imparted some of the lessons he’s learned during his two decades in the movie industry. “Number one: The same script with $10 million attached is funnier than the same script with $1 million attached to it.”

Secondly, “you have to prepare, that structure helps you play,” he added, telling the story of how he once didn’t read the script for a movie until he actually got on set. “Then I found out it was a two-page monologue in Spanish.” Finally, he spoke about his children: “I so love having my children engaged on set,” continuing that he used to think it was a bad idea until he became a father.

As has become semi-traditional at the American Cinematheque evening, there were some light-hearted digs at the honoree. In McConaughey’s case, it was his romcom past, with host Jimmy Kimmel saying “He’s not just a pretty face: he’s also got a hot body.” The likes of Kate Hudson and Reese Witherspoon also did some impressions of him.

More: Matthew McConaughey is proud of his romcom work

McConaughey’s critical rehabilitation – dubbed the ‘McConaissance’ began at the start of the decade, and was capped off earlier this year when he received the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in last year’s Dallas Buyers Club. He also delivered widely praised roles in The Lincoln Lawyer and Magic Mike, as well as HBO’s TV series ‘True Detective’. Certainly a long way from the virtual lockdown he had on romcoms throughout the noughties.

His next film Interstellar, directed by Christopher Nolan and co-starring Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway, is due to be released in cinemas on November 5th in the States and November 7th in Britain.