Matthew McConaughey looks skeletal on the set of The Dallas Buyers Club

A shrinking Matthew McConaughey reported for his first day on the New Orleans set of The Dallas Buyers Club Sunday.

The normally buff 42-year-old was spotted walking by his trailer in 1986 period garb – grey T-shirt, which hung loose, blue jeans, and glasses.

Sporting a Burt Reynolds moustache, Matthew McConaughey also had a visibly large lesion on his forehead, an ominous sign of the AIDS affliction which took the life of his real-life character Ron Woodroof.

Matthew McConaughey, who dropped 30 pounds, shocked onlookers Friday as he shuffled through the security line at LAX.

He certainly looked almost unrecognizable from the snake-hipped muscleman who lit up screens this year in stripper movie Magic Mike.

Both Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling originally wanted to play Ron Woodruff, the heterosexual, homophobic electrician who perished in 1992 after illegally smuggling HIV drugs not approved in the States.

The Dallas Buyers Club, due out next April, reportedly focuses on the six months following his diagnosis.

Jennifer Garner, who starred with Matthew McConaughey in Ghosts of Girlfriend’s Past, recently replaced two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank as Dr. Eve Saks in the drama.

And Jared Leto just joined the cast as Ron Woodroof’s friend Rayon, a flamboyant HIV-positive cross-dressing hospital patient.

The fact that Matthew McConaughey is so committed to altering his appearance for the role, might have something to do with the fact that the charismatic leading man has yet to secure an Oscar, Golden Globe, or Emmy nomination.

“I’m playing a guy who was sick and would have loved to have been healthier but wasn’t,” Matthew McConaughey told Us Weekly.

“For me, it’s more of a mental thing than a physical thing. I’ll get down to the weight I need to get to. I’m on my way, and it’s what I need to do for the job.”

Matthew McConaughey is currently doing cardio, drinking a lot of tea, and eating five ounces of high-protein, low-carbohydrate foods a day.

However, the triathelete has already planned out his post-Buyer’s Club celebratory meal – “cheeseburger”.

The most famous thespian to have vigorously exercised the pounds off for a juicy role was Christian Bale, who lost 63 pounds for The Machinist thanks to a diet of coffee, water, a can of tuna, and an apple a day.

Rapper 50 Cent did a two-month liquid diet to lose 50 pounds for Things Fall Apart, while Matt Damon suffered adrenal gland damage from losing 50 pounds for his heroin addict character in Courage Under Fire.