Matthew McConaughey Almost Starred in Leonardo DiCaprio’s Career-Defining Movie With Kate Winslet
Matthew McConaughey, who made his acting debut in 1993’s Dazed and Confused and had his first main part in 1996’s legal thriller A Time to Kill, is recognized as one of the most talented and well-liked actors in the business. The romantic comedies McConaughey starred in during the 1990s included Failure to Launch, The Wedding Planner, and the well-regarded How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
The actor, who is also known as a s-x symbol, received widespread acclaim for his performance as a stripper in Magic Mike, a film that also starred Channing Tatum. Later, in 2013, McConaughey won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Ron Woodroof, a cowboy who was diagnosed with AIDS in Dallas Buyers Club. The actor has a long record of well-received and popular films to his credit, but reports indicated that he was nearly certain to star opposite Kate Winslet in a highly well-known and beloved role.
Matthew McConaughey auditioned for Jack Dawson
Matthew McConaughey is a successful actor but he recalled in an interview that he almost thought he was going to star in a movie opposite Kate Winslet before that role went to Leonardo DiCaprio.
In an interview with Rob Lowe’s podcast Literally! With Robe Lowe, he said,
“So I went and read with Kate Winslet [who starred as Rose] and it was not one of the auditions — they filmed it so it was like screen test time. After we left, you know, it was one of those ones where they, like, followed me and when we got outside they were like, ‘That went great.’ I mean, kind of, like, hugs. I really thought it was going to happen. It did not.”
The actor revealed that he heard rumors of him being offered the role when, in reality, he was never offered the role of Jack Dawson. He recalled during the interview, “I asked [director James] Cameron about this because the gossip over the years that I heard and would see written about me was that I had the role in Titanic and turned it down. Not factual. I did not get offered that role.”
Kate Winslet admits it wouldn’t have been the ‘Jack and Rose, Kate and Leo thing’
During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2017, the actress who played the leading lady on the show shared that she had auditioned with Matthew McConaughey for the part, stating,
“Never said that in public before. I auditioned with Matthew, which was completely fantastic. It just wouldn’t have been the whole ‘Jack and Rose, Kate and Leo’ thing.”
Kate Winslet also noted in 2012 that before she was finalized to play, actresses including Uma Thurman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Winona Ryder were also being considered for the part of Rose, adding that the director had taken a risk by casting her. Back in 1998, during an interview with Rolling Stone, she said,
“I closed the script, wept floods of tears and said, ‘Right, I’ve absolutely got to be a part of this. No two ways about it.’ She explained that she called James Cameron up and asked him to cast her for the role.”
Titanic wasn’t the only role Matthew McConaughey has lost
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s Award Chatter podcast in 2018, the actor shared that back in the late 1990s, the actor turned down the role of L.A. Confidential, as he shared, “I think it was the Guy Pearce role. That’s a movie I really, really liked.”
The reason he turned down the role was because he was busy starring in romantic comedies at the time and explained,
“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 experiencing a romantic comedy.“
Back in April, the actor made headlines when he revealed on Let’s Talk Off Camera With Kelly Ripa as noted by CNN that he is certain that he and co-actor Woody Harrelson could be brothers. He said when his family looks at the pictures of them they think that in a lot of his pictures, he looks like Woody. The two of them are set to appear in Apple TV+’s Brother From Another Mother series but there has been no premiere date as of now.
