Matthew McConaughey is back in the rivals of Amziah King after a five-year hiatus from live-action productions, and Black Bear is set to release the film after its long road from set to screen. The movie was shot in 2023 and premiered at South by Southwest in the spring of 2025.
McConaughey Chose This Film
McConaughey said, "I chose this in place of other movies I could have done for a whole lot more money." That choice turned The Rivals of Amziah King into his return to acting after he had stepped away from Hollywood to focus on writing several books, a break that makes this release feel less like a routine title pickup and more like a deliberate reset.
He plays the titular honeymaker, a born-again Christian and bluegrass musician, while Angelina LookingGlass portrays Kateri. The character lived with Amziah as his foster daughter for a few years before life pulled them apart, then returns to him in adulthood and in crisis.
Andrew Patterson And 2019
Andrew Patterson has spent years developing the film as the follow-up to The Vast of Night, which arrived in 2019. He said, "It was something that I wanted to go out and make quickly after I shot Vast of Night," and added, "I looked around at the resources and people I had access to, and one of my closest friends owned a honey plant."
Patterson also said, "I wanted to make a movie about a Native American female that takes over a narrative and essentially becomes the protagonist." That gives the film a clearer creative center than a standard prestige-independent release: the title character may carry the name, but Kateri is built to drive the story.
Black Bear's Release Delay
Patterson said, "I was very, very glad and honored that they wanted to start up a whole company to put things into theaters because that was overdue." The line explains the unusual path here: the film did not simply move from festival to release, but from premiere to a later theatrical plan through the same financing side that now handles distribution.
He also answered "Yeah." when asked whether it had been three years since the film was shot. That gap is the real story. The Rivals of Amziah King was shot in 2023, premiered in spring 2025, and is only now set for release a year and a half later, a delay that leaves the movie arriving as McConaughey's return is finally visible to audiences.
For readers, the practical takeaway is simple: the wait is nearly over, and the film's theatrical rollout will put a five-year acting break, a 2023 production date, and a 2025 festival premiere into the same frame at last.
