A Texas drawl. A kind handshake. A compliment about a fancy car. And a few nods to acknowledge a fan.

That’s all it took for a memorable celebrity encounter this week, when Denise Grubbs Harrill met Matthew McConaughey in Birmingham.

The Oscar-winning actor has been in Alabama over the past month or so, starring in “The Rivals of Amziah King,” a crime thriller written and directed by Andrew Patterson. Several folks have spotted McConaughey during filming in various locations in the greater Birmingham area, from The Frosty Mug in Jasper to J&J Grocery & Deli in Bessemer.

Invariably, fans have described their brushes with fame as extremely positive ones, as McConaughey has greeted the public in a relaxed and congenial way.

READ: Matthew McConaughey spotted at downtown Birmingham cafe: ‘He was so nice’

Harrill, a Birmingham resident, was no exception. She watched McConaughey film scenes for “Amziah King” on July 5 at Automotive Friction Material, a downtown business owned by her husband, Truth Harrill. Later, she shook McConaughey’s hand and chatted with him as the actor sat in his car.

“He could not have been more low-key and nice,” Harrill said. “He just seems like a good ol’ Texas boy.”

The couple didn’t invite friends or family to the set that day, as a courtesy gesture to respect the star’s privacy.

“Our own kids didn’t come,” Harrill told AL.com. “I’m probably in the doghouse with our cousins and family members.”

Harrill described herself as an excitable type, and husband Truth as much more chill. Still, she said both of them were happy to welcome the movie crew that day, as trucks began to load in equipment in the morning and filming started in the evening after 6 p.m.

“It was very casual, and everyone was very polite,” Harrill said. A security detail was on scene, she said, and some police were present on nearby streets. But everything stayed calm, Harrill said, and there were no disruptions during the filming.

Automotive Friction Material, at 1512 Seventh Ave. North, has a large warehouse with an alley at the rear of the building. Harrill said the “Amziah King” team thought it would be a good location to stand in for King Honey, a company owned by McConaughey’s character in the film. (Few details have been released about the plot, but we know that the protagonist, Amziah King, is involved in beekeeping.)

McConaughey arrived on set around 7:15 p.m., Harrill said, and filmed about four scenes, staying there until 11:30 p.m. Most of the action involved a truck making a delivery to Amziah King’s company, backing into the warehouse area from the alley and parking outside a garage. King, who’s waiting for the truck, greets the people making the delivery as they arrive.

“They get out of the truck to chit-chat,” Harrill said. “They did that scene 15 to 20 times, to catch different angles. I knew the lines of every character by the time they were done.”

McConaughey was very professional during the filming, she said, and easy to spot among the cast and crew.

“He had on a bandanna and Wrangler jeans,” Harrill said, “with lots of beard and big hair.”

When he was finished with his scenes, McConaughey walked over to a black Lincoln SUV that was parked nearby and hopped into the driver’s seat. Harrill said she couldn’t let the star leave without saying hello, so she waved him down as he was starting to make an exit, backing down the alley.

“He stopped and rolled the window down,” Harrill said.

The conversation that followed was short but cordial, as Harrill thanked McConaughey for filming there and told him a little about her husband’s business, which has been in his family since 1958.

The star nodded and said, “all right” a time or two, drawing out the phrase but not doing his trademark “alright, alright alright.” McConaughey also pointed to a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia parked nearby and said, “Y’all are going to take care of that Karmann Ghia, aren’t you?” (The car is her husband’s pride and joy, Harrill said.)

“Then he laughed, backed up and reached his hand out from the driver’s seat,” Harrill said. “He reached out his hand to me, very kindly, and shook my hand.”

Harrill had snapped a few photos of McConaughey while he was filming and recorded a couple of videos, but did so from a distance. When she was face-to-face with the actor, Harrill said, she thought it might be too awkward to ask him for a selfie. McConaughey was sitting in the Lincoln, after all, and she’d either have to climb into the car with him or ask him to step out for a photo.

“I kept it very brief. But I would not trade it for anything,” Harrill said. “I’m actually kind of glad I didn’t go out there with my phone out.”

She shared her McConaughey experience on Facebook, however, and has been fielding congratulations from friends. “Matthew McConaughey on set!” Harrill said in a post on July 6. “Such a fun night, Alright Alright Alright!”

Harrill joins other fans in Alabama — such as Lindsey Mullinax, Camryn Wright and Diane Henderson Murphey of Walker County — who’ve posted photos and videos of the actor on social media, sharing the excitement of McConaughey’s presence here during the filming.

McConaughey has been spotted while off duty in Birmingham, too, chatting with a producer for “Amziah King” at the Frothy Monkey downtown. One fan caught a glimpse of the star walking into Bottega, an upscale restaurant in Southside, and posted photos of the moment on Facebook.

McConaughey was announced as the star of “The Rivals of Amziah King” on May 8 by Black Bear Pictures, an independent studio based in California and London. Reports at the time described the movie as a “deeply atmospheric, character-focused crime thriller set against the unique backdrop of remote Oklahoma.”

A storyline for the movie hasn’t been confirmed, but writer/director Andrew Patterson previously worked on a movie with the same title in 2018. That version of “Amziah King” was filmed, at least in part, about five years ago in Navarro County, Texas. A report by the Corsicana Daily Sun said Patterson filmed scenes there in August 2018 and described the plot this way:

“The film is based upon a woman named Kateri … that leaves her small town life behind for bigger ventures. After learning her grandfather has gone missing, she returns and begins the business of beekeeping, fighting her way to the top, while she searches for him.”

It’s unclear if Patterson’s current script for “The Rivals of Amziah King” will follow the previous storyline, or if it’s been changed for McConaughey.

The actor, 53, is a household name in the entertainment world. He’s known for movies such as “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Dazed and Confused,” “A Time to Kill,” “The Lincoln Lawyer,” “Magic Mike,” “Mud,” “Free State of Jones,” “Interstellar” and more. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and other accolades for his role in 2013′s “Dallas Buyers Club.” McConaughey also earned acclaim for his work in the first season of the TV series “True Detective.”

This isn’t McConaughey’s first visit to Alabama. The actor previously filmed scenes for 2006′s “Failure to Launch” in Cherokee and Etowah counties, according to a 2005 report by The Gadsden Times. The actor went rock climbing at Cherokee Rock Village in Leesburg and filmed a mountain-biking scene on a nearby ridge, a producer for the movie said.

McConaughey also was spotted in Mobile in February 2015, around the time he filmed “Free State of Jones” in Louisiana.

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