Jennifer Garner and Matthew McConaughey speak out on bad boys and heartbreakers

Jennifer Garner and Matthew McConaughey

Jennifer Garner says she need some closure with one of her loves from high school. His name is Tim Miller, he played trumpet in the school band, and she says he broke her heart. The actress (who’s now married to Ben Affleck and has two kids with him) also jokes that she’s been constantly bringing Miller up while doing interviews for the romantic comedy "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," in which she co-stars with Matthew McConaughey. That’s because "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" is largely about looking at how you’ve treated the people you’ve dated in the past, and how you could possibly correct any wrong behavior in the present in order to change your future. It’s essentially the romantic-comedy version of "A Christmas Carol."

In "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," Garner is Jenny Perotti, a childhood friend of Connor Mead (played by McConaughey), a celebrity/fashion photographer who’s a notorious playboy. At a wedding party for his brother, Paul (played by Breckin Meyer), Connor sees the ghosts of many people from his past — including his womanizing Uncle Wayne (played by Michael Douglas) — and Connor has to come to terms with his less-than-gentlemanly actions with women he used to date. Garner and McConaughey sat down to talk abut the movie, as well as if they would change anything about their love lives from the past, and who’s given them really bad advice about love and sex.

How would you describe you character in "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"?

McConaughey: Connor Mead, when you first meet him in the story, you meet him in his studio. He’s a fashion photographer, and he’s got a very busy life. He’s got a lot of women in his life. You find out that he’s had hundreds, if not thousands, of short-term relationships. He’s never had a long-term relationship. I’m fine with him. He loves women.

Garner: Jenny was Connor’s best friend when they were kids. She knew him before his parents died. They went through everything together. They were each other’s first loves. And then he totally disappointed her, stomped on her heart and was an absolute jerk. And she lost her faith in men in general, and decided to date normal, really evolved, put-together men. So of course, she’s been single ever since that vow. And now she and Connor are thrown together at wedding where she is the maid of honor and he’s the best man.

He’s a real cad, but since he’s the only character going through this supernatural element, where he’s being met up with ghosts in the bathroom and seeing every piece of his life being played back for him, so he is having a different story than the rest of us. We’re just at a wedding, wondering what the hell is wrong with him. But he’s the one who gets kind of crazier and crazier as the movie goes on. And of course, that leads to great physical comedy, and he’s so good at it. He goes for it. It’s so much fun to watch.

Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner in "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"

What’s the message of this movie? And why should people see this film?

McConaughey: Well, the ghosts of girlfriends past take this guy back to my [character’s] past, to see myself when I met Jenny, when she gave me my first camera, to see that true puppy love. And then to high school and junior high, to see where I was at the dance and had a chance to take her out, but she went with Pete Hastings, the older guy. He was her first kiss instead of me.

And then my experience with my Uncle Wayne, who says, "Well, don’t sweat it, kid. You get over it right now. Power in our relationships lies with whoever cares less. Wipe your frickin’ tears away, because if you care a lot and let this girl hurt you, you’re going to feel nothing but pain for the rest of your life." So this was the M.O. I was raised on.

He [Connor] starts to find out from his actions … that even though he might not have felt pain, it still caused some pain to them. Some of those breakups were like, "Hey, I told you … We only went out for two weeks, and I’m moving on." Well, that’s all well and good and true and honest and all that, but some of these women were still hurt by that. He never really knew he caused pain. He’s not a guy trying to cause anyone pain. So that’s some of the things he sees: "Oh, that’s some repercussions that I didn’t know about." And not in a moral sense, like, "Oh, I’ve got to change my ways," but "I didn’t know that."

Garner: A romantic comedy is nothing if you don’t have something to play. And this one gives you that opportunity, because it is something that you’ve seen your friends go through so many times — minus the ghosts and minus Matthew McConaughey. But the other thing I found so compelling was the dialogue. It’s witty, it’s believable, it’s just good.

That’s why we were so attracted to it, because it is smarter than your average romantic comedy and it does have something to say. And the characters are real actors, and not just pieces of cardboard, hopefully. And because it’s a great love story and it’s the journey of this one man, what he goes through in a single night and how it changes him.

Jennifer Garner in "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"

Matthew, what do you think of Jennifer Garner?

McConaughey: She’s easy on the eyes. She’s good-looking. She’s good-looking on the inside, too … She’s very secure with herself. She’s very confident. What I particularly like about her is that she not only understands but appreciated male identity. She appreciates a male perspective. She doesn’t play it tit for tat, or battle of the sexes. The part didn’t call for it, but it’s not where she comes from. She appreciates the difference in a man and a woman.

What does that mean? It means she’ll laugh at something instead of going [he says in a hostile tone] "What’d you say?" She’s with it. She gets it. She’s a grown-up in that way. And that comes from a certain confidence that she has. It’s also something that makes her very attractive and also … allows for us to spar in a good, honest way.

Did you get star-struck at any time you were working with Michael Douglas?

McConaughey: A lot of times when you work with someone who’s been around for a long time, and is sort of a living legendary figure or actor … when you work with them, they obviously get mortalized … Michael didn’t become smaller, but I was really impressed with how simple he was, whether it was being on time, being prepared … There was no extra riff raff with Michael — not that I expected there to be. I had known him before from a couple of golf tournaments.

Matthew McConaughey and Michael Douglas in "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"

What was it like to work with "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" director Mark Waters?

Garner: One of the reasons why actors are so ready to work with Mark is because he loves actors so much. And he’s incredibly organized. Normally, when you have a director who’s incredibly organized, you’re happy for just that. Or a director who gives you really great acting notes and gives you great ideas for a scene, you’re thrilled with that. But he is that rare director that has both going for him. And he’s so collaborative.

If you could go back and right a wrong in a past romance, would you do it?

McConaughey: I’m going to let my cards lay where they fell.

Garner: I would go back and tidy things up. I wouldn’t change the outcome. I’m happy where I am now.

McConaughey: Would you go back to band and the orange section?

Garner: And find Tim Miller?

McConaughey: He was on trumpet; she was on saxophone.

Garner: Yeah, I probably would go back to Tim Miller.

McConaughey: Would you have chosen to play trumpet yourself, so maybe you could be a little bit nearer to Tim Miller?

Garner: Whoa! That’s changing too much.

McConaughey: Tim’s out there. We talk about Tim.

Garner: We talk abut Tim in almost every interview.

Tim’s going to love that.

Garner: I bet he will!

Matthew McConaughey, Daniel Sunjata and Jennifer Garner in "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"

How do you know when you’re cast in a movie if you’re going to click with your co-stars?

Garner: You just hope. You don’t know.

McConaughey: You don’t know. I know when you look forward to coming to work and you look forward to a scene … A lot of our "clicking" in this film, you can see our [characters’] past, but it comes through us [as Connor and Jenny] competing, sort of. I’m being who I am, as she’s just calling it on me: "Oh, I know that move and, nope, that’s not working on me." Where we compete is where our [characters’] sexual tension comes from, for my money, in this relationship … And in the end, we get to have some real heart-to-heart solid stuff, where I’m not trying to be anything but … the core of myself.

There’s a lot of slapstick comedy in this movie. It must’ve been a riot to watch Matthew do all of that.

Garner: It was. It really was. In fact, there were so many big scenes that Matthew had, one right after the other … and we shot a lot of them right in a row. And so a lot of the cast was together for it, and he would just come in and nail it, day after day. And we were like, "Wow! Way to go!" It made us really excited … to watch him go for it like he did.

McConaughey: It was fun.

Matthew McConaughey in "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"

How many takes did you need to do that scene with the wedding cake being knocked down?

McConaughey: Well, once the cake fell, that’s the one-shot deal. Now, the challenge was getting away from the cake and saving it before it falls. If it tipped a little bit, the tension would’ve been lower. But if it tipped all the way, if I was too late, the cake wouldn’t have been saved, and we’d have a two-hour reset.

Garner: There were cakes lined up on the counter in the next room, but it was going to take all day if you needed those cakes.

McConaughey: So it was about the cake almost falling and just getting over there to catch it. We got there pretty quickly. And once we got that, I’m hearing them off screen going, "OK, tip it a bit more." And I’m going "Uh-huh" [he makes an upward gesture with his hands], and there’s a fishing line back there holding on to some piece of the cake. We got it in a few takes.

Uncle Wayne in the movie isn’t the best role model for giving love advice.

McConaughey: He’d be fun!

Matthew McConaughey in "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"

Was there anyone who gave you bad advice about love and sex when you were younger?

McConaughey: I got most of mine from my older brother and my father, and looking back they gave good advice. I had a couple of friends when I was a sophomore in high school — a couple of senior guys — that were leaning into the full cad-ship of a Connor or an Uncle Wayne I thought their methods were clever and stuff, but I was like, "It’s going to catch up with you, man." And it did. I got to see it catch up with them.

Garner: That’s great.

McConaughey: They left crumbs, so to speak.

Garner: I didn’t really have that. I don’t think it’s the same for girls as it is for a young guy. I had almost the opposite of that, I would say.

Your kids are really young now, but do you have any fears about them dating when they’re old enough?

Garner: With the Internet. The Internet is scary to me, for kids.

McConaughey: I remember when [kids were allowed] one hour of TV at night. Now it’s one hour online. I never really thought of that. Mainly, what scares me the most about it is you go down the street on Christmas afternoon these days, and none of the kids are out front playing with the toys they got. They’re inside, playing in a virtual world.

Why do you think Jenny sticks with Connor, even though he can be such a jerk?

Garner: I think it’s because she’s known him since he was a little kid. She knows who he really is and why things have gone wrong for him. So she just believes in him more than anyone else can. She also won’t let him get away with anything.

McConaughey: She does give me more than one chance, thankfully.

Garner: That is true.

McConaughey: It takes a strong woman to do that, because [Jenny thinks], "I know where this is going to end up. Why do you expect me to go down this road again? Why would I?" But she does, thankfully. But it’s like she said: [Our characters] have known each other since [they were] kids … She knows who I really am, if I let myself be. It’s the guy we end up with in the end.