Matthew McConaughey to play Evel Knievel?

I remember having the little wind-up toy of Evel Knievel, wind up, release and the bike would speed off. Adjust Evel on the bike and you’ll get wheelies and turns, or just fall over with the wheels spinning.

Matthew McConaughey certainly does, and he’s been talking over at Yahoo about the crazy daredevil life of Knievel.

“This is a life story I’ve been wanting to tell for a while, but I want to tell it right,” McConaughey said. “It’s tough … on the one hand, it could be a high, big budget, more expensive … more PG version. But there’s another side to this man’s life. In the ugliness is where the life comes from.”

I like what he’s said here, it could be a nice fluffy movie, but he’s certainly looking to make it more of a realistic portrayal of his life, and coupled with those amazing stunts…

“If your threshold for feeling alive comes from having to jump 18 Mack trucks, then daily life can be really mundane,” McConaughey said. “I believe that when he was about to jump, that’s when he felt most right with the world. In between the jumps, that’s when life was tough. “The lifestyle in between … had to be hell.”

This could be superb, and I’m happy to root for this movie. Evel was a god when I was young, and his story has been lost to history. Hey, everyone, look, new material! (Let’s ignore the George Hamilton attempt.)