Tequila& Phonebooks
A film dripping in crime. Three women at its heart. And a state that refuses to be a backdrop.
Everyone is a criminal.Some are better at it than others.
I wrote a script about grifters. A story where everyone bends, everyone lies, and everyone wants something they can't quite reach. Some are likable. Some aren't.
At the heart of it, three standout female roles. Substantial. Necessary. They are strong and powerful women. They are the siren and the ship.
Three women at the heart of it -the siren and the ship.
A project that refused to die.
Hollywood's deep waters swallowed the first pass. We set it aside. We lived. Then Texas happened - and the idea came back with a new accent.
- THEN
The Pick Up
A script about grifters. Three unforgettable women at the center - the siren and the ship. Almost financed. Never quite closed.
- 2020
The World Stops
Covid ends an LA chapter. Family moves to the Great State of Texas. The idea won't let go.
- 2023
New Eyes
The story restaged for a place that already lives in cinema - landscape, sky, culture, rhythm. Texas becomes a character. Script re-titled to Tequila & Phonebooks.
- 2026
The Text
'Do you still want to make your movie?' A finance group looking for projects. Months of cuts. We survive them all.
- NOW
Green Light
'We love it.' The script is different, fun, and led by women. The money is real. Cameras are on the horizon.
"The location isn't a backdrop.It's a character - the way the city is in Se7en."
Everything hereis bigger.
The land, the skies, the culture, the energy. Texas is raw. It has a distinct way of living and it moves to its own rhythm. Memphis, St. Louis, Toledo, Buffalo - they faded. BBQ, bourbon, tequila, longhorn, sports, desert, hills. Freedom and romance in one breath.
The city needed to feel like an element of the story, with a real sense of place that could shape the narrative and the characters. We envisioned a mid-sized American city, just large enough to support the story, with enough personality and life that lives in these characters.
Flat horizons, cotton dust, honky-tonk grit. A town where a grifter can disappear between the streetlights.
Green light.
Early 2026. A text from an old friend: "Do you still want to make your movie?"A finance group. Months of talking, waiting, hoping. Projects tossed, projects cut. We stayed on the list.
Then the call. Different. Fun. Great characters - especially the women. A genre they hadn't seen presented this way."We love it."
Mr. Texas,meet the movie.
In our opinion, Matthew McConaughey is Mr. Texas. A man who lives and breathes the state, understands story and character, and - loves, understands, and created - tequila.
A Texas film with tequila as the first word in its title of course needs a favorite tequila. We would be thrilled to have Pantalones as the official on- (and off-) camera tequila of Tequila & Phonebooks. Whatever else Matthew wants to bring is more than welcome.
- 01 Pantalones as official on- (and off-) camera tequila.
- 02 A conversation with Matthew about the story and the state.
- 03 Any additional thought, idea, or texture he wants to bring.
Independent film.Independent thought.
This is a passion project from a lifetime in entertainment - actor to producer to director. Every scene, every insert, every establishing shot will exude Texas. In the moments the story takes a breath, and in the moments it runs full speed.
Having Matthew, Camila, and their equally independent, free-spirited tequila be part of this journey would be an amazing connection to this story.