Matthew McConaughey reflected on his days as “the rom-com guy” and how turning down one movie offer changed his career.
“I was getting quantity, but I wasn’t getting the quality,” McConaughey, 55, recalled during a Thursday, September 18, episode of “The Diary of a CEO” podcast, noting that he wanted to do something “that scares me” rather than what he was used to.
“What I want to do is dramas, but Hollywood won’t offer me one no matter how big of a pay cut I take,” McConaughey continued. “If I can’t do what I want to do, I’m going to quit doing what I’ve been doing. [I] Chose to, boom, go to the ranch in Texas. … Told my agent, ‘No more rom-coms.’”
After making this decision with wife Camila Alves’ support, the well was dry. (McConaughey noted that Alves was pregnant with their first child at this point in their relationship.)
“Nothing comes in for months,” McConaughey said, noting that he started looking into alternate careers. “This offer comes in for this action comedy. $8 million offer. I read it and I said, ‘No, thank you. That’s the stuff I’m not doing.’”
He continued, “They come back with a $10 million offer. I’m not reading that again, no thank you. Come back at a $12 million offer. Guys, tell him I said no thanks. They come back at a $14.5 million offer. I said, ‘Let me read that again.’”
Matthew McConaughey in ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ Courtesy Everett Collection
McConaughey ultimately turned it down.
“I don’t have any proof of it, but I think that me saying no to that $14.5 million offer a year into me leaving and saying no more rom-coms,” he said. “I think me doing that sent the message through Hollywood. Oh, McConaughey is not bluffing. What the f***’s he up to?”
McConaughey joked his brothers even wondered if he had a “major malfunction” by turning down that much money. (The actor has two older brothers, Rooster and Pat McConaughey.)
Twenty months after his break from Hollywood, the drama movie offers started rolling in. While he didn’t reveal which title specifically made the change, McConaughey referenced True Detective, Dallas Buyers Club (for which he won an Oscar), The Lincoln Lawyer, Killer Joe, Mud and Magic Mike.
“I was off and I grabbed a hold of all of them I could and did them and love doing them,” he continued. “Would those have come if I’d never stepped out? … No, they wouldn’t have.”
