Matthew McConaughey will replace Owen Wilson in new comedy Tropic Thunder.


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The Sahara actor is to have a cameo role alongside stars Jack Black, Robert Downey Jnr. and Steve Coogan in the movie, directed by Wilson’s close friend Ben Stiller.

McConaughey is expected to shoot his scenes in the next few weeks. Tropic Thunder is a comedy about a group of actors shooting a war movie on a deserted island that is attacked for real.

McConaughey recently finished shooting the films Fools Gold and Surfer Dude but carved out a week in his busy schedule to join the rest of the cast on set in Hawaii.

Wilson, 38, dropped out of the project after a suicide attempt last month. The actor reportedly slit his wrists after struggling to cope with his split from Raising Helen actress Kate Hudson.

Wilson’s friend Wes Anderson, with who he wrote the film The Royal Tenenbaums, recently claimed the actor was “doing well and making us laugh a lot”.