Matthew Mcconaughey was spotted looking shockingly thin after losing a reported 30 pounds to play an AIDS sufferer in his new movie 'The Dallas Buyer's Club'.

The 'Magic Mike' star has had to sacrifice his athletic physique in favour of a slimmer build after being signed up to portray Ron Woodroof; a sick patient in the mid-eighties who seeks treatment for his deadly condition in an upcoming movie. The extent of his dieting (or just plain lack of food according to the 43-year-old) was revealed after he was photographed on Friday (November 9th 2012) looking gaunt and extremely unhealthy on the way to catch a plane from Los Angeles to New Orleans where shooting for the drama flick started last weekend. 

Abstaining from food may seem like an extreme feat, but McConaughey has described that as 'cleansing' experience. 'It's a bit of a spiritual cleanse, mental cleanse', he told Larry King on his online show in August. '[I'm] drinking a lot of tea. It takes a while for your body to understand that it has to feed off itself, and that you're not going to give it something else from the outside. I should not look healthy by the time I'm doing this.'