Matthew McConaughey has revealed that he auditioned for the part of Jack in James Cameron’s 1997 mega-hit Titanic.
The 49-year-old actor told The Hollywood Report’s Awards Chatter podcast on Saturday that he thought he had the role in the bag, only to beaten by Leonardo DiCaprio.
“I went and auditioned for [‘Titanic’]. I wanted that. I auditioned with Kate Winslet. Had a good audition. Walked away from there pretty confident that I had it. I didn’t get it. I never got offered that.”
“And as I’ve said before not even half-jokingly if it’s true, if that was an offer and it didn’t come to me, I’ve got to go back and go, ‘I’ve got to meet in an alley with that agent.’”
McConaughey and DiCaprio’s careers took divergent paths following the success of Titanic. Leo soon began to collaborate closely with directors like Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg in critically acclaimed movies like Gangs Of New York and Catch Me If You Can, while McConaughey became a rent-a-hunk for a series of wildly successful rom-coms.
But he doesn’t regret spending much of his career as a smirking heart throb, telling the podcast: “It was fun, it was great pay and I learned that, you know what, these are not the type of movies to dig deep [within one's own experience]. They were "Saturday characters." I remember saying, "I'm gonna give myself another Saturday!"
"They were fun. The pay was great. I was looking forward to them. I enjoyed going to work. I was also living on a beach and going out without my shirt on, just like I did before I was famous. I was living a romantic-comedy."
His time came soon enough, anyway. After an Oscar-winning performance in Dallas Buyers Club, as well as acclaimed turns in True Detective, Magic Mike, Interstellar and Wolf of Wolf Street, critics dubbed his career uplift as the 'McConaissance'.
Nick Pope is the Site Director of Esquire, overseeing digital strategy for the brand.
