‘Titanic’ Producer Lastly Reveals Why Matthew McConaughey Misplaced His Function

In keeping with “Titanic” producer Jon Landau’s upcoming memoir, “The Larger Image: My Blockbuster Life & Classes Realized Alongside The Approach,” McConaughey was significantly thought of for the function that finally catapulted Leonardo DiCaprio into superstardom.

The extremely anticipated e-book, which will likely be launched posthumously in November following Landau’s dying in July 2024, presents a bombshell revelation that Matthew McConaughey misplaced the half after refusing to drop his Texas accent throughout his audition.

In a teaser from the memoir, obtained by Matthew Belloni’s “What I’m Listening to” publication, Landau remembers McConaughey auditioning reverse Kate Winslet in 1996. The chemistry was simple, with Landau writing that “Kate was taken with Matthew, his presence and attraction.”

However director James Cameron wasn’t bought. After the preliminary display take a look at, Cameron reportedly requested the actor to attempt the scene once more with out the southern drawl. McConaughey declined, allegedly responding, “No. That was fairly good. Thanks.”

“Let’s simply say, that was it for McConaughey,” Landau wrote, suggesting that the actor’s refusal to regulate value him some of the iconic roles in Hollywood historical past.

As an alternative, Leonardo DiCaprio boarded the Titanic as Jack Dawson, starring reverse Kate Winslet’s Rose in a love story set in opposition to the doomed 1912 ocean liner.

The movie went on to gross $2.2 billion worldwide, profitable 11 Academy Awards, together with Finest Image, and cementing DiCaprio and Winslet as family names.

Though DiCaprio’s efficiency didn’t earn him an Oscar nomination on the time, “Titanic” was a defining second in his profession, launching him to the highest tier of Hollywood main males. He would go on to earn a number of Oscar nominations earlier than lastly profitable Finest Actor in 2016 for “The Revenant.”

This isn’t the primary time McConaughey has spoken about nearly touchdown the function of Jack Dawson.

In a 2021 dialog with Rob Lowe, the actor opened up about his “Titanic” audition alongside Winslet, recalling how assured he felt strolling out of the room.

“So I went and skim with Kate Winslet and it was not one of many auditions, they filmed it so it was like into display take a look at time,” McConaughey defined on the time. “After we left, , it was a kind of ones the place they, like, adopted me and once we acquired exterior they have been like, ‘That went nice.’ I imply, sort of, like, hugs. I actually thought it was going to occur. It didn’t.”

Regardless of years of Hollywood gossip claiming he had been supplied the function and turned it down, McConaughey has made it clear that was by no means the case. “I requested [director James] Cameron about this, as a result of the gossip through the years that I heard and would see written about me was that I had the function in Titanic and turned it down. Not factual. I didn’t get supplied that function.”

The Oscar-winning actor even laughed concerning the persistent rumor, joking, “For some time I used to be saying, ‘I gotta discover that agent. They’re in bother.’ I didn’t ever get the supply.”

For McConaughey, shedding “Titanic” didn’t stall his rise.

His breakout function in “A Time to Kill” (1996) positioned him as a number one man, and over the following decade, he constructed a profession that spanned romantic comedies, thrillers, and dramas. His “McConaissance” within the 2010s, with “Dallas Consumers Membership,” “Interstellar,” and HBO’s “True Detective,” solidified his place as some of the revered actors of his era, incomes him an Academy Award for Finest Actor.