Matthew McConaughey's performance playing a homophobe who acquires
HIV in the Dallas Buyers Club is generating an Oscar buzz.
The film, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, also stars
Jared Leto as Rayon, an HIV-positive transgender woman.
The film is loosely based on the life of Ron Woodroof, a
foulmouthed womanizer who in 1986 was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and
given 30 days to live. He was prescribed AZT, the only legal drug
available at the time in the United States, but the drug's side
effects brought Woodroof to the brink of death. With the help of his
doctor, Eve Saks (played by Jennifer Garner) and Rayon, Woodroof
created the nation's first club selling alternative and experimental
treatments to combat HIV/AIDS. He died in 1992, 2,161 days later
than doctors had anticipated.
In the process of attempting to save his own life, Woodroof took
on the medical establishment and the FDA. (The trailer is embedded
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McConaughey, who lost nearly 50 pounds for the role, personally
championed the film's production.