Trailer Debut: Dallas Buyers Club

We have our first footage of Matthew McConaughey as emaciated AIDS activist Ron Woodroof, here in the trailer for upcoming Academy Award contender Dallas Buyers Club.

Woodroof was a would-be cowboy and gambler who, after contracting HIV, started smuggling not-yet approved medicine into the U.S.

McConaughey lost 20 kilos to portray the ailing Woodroof; a bodily transformation that automatically puts him into the Oscar race.

Helpfully, his performance looks pretty good too.

Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee, Dallas Buyers Club also stars Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto. It opens this December in the States, with a local release to follow in 2014.