Matthew McConaughey wasn’t quite “king of the world’ material in the mid-’90s.
In the forthcoming memoir The Bigger Picture, the late Titanic producer Jon Landau recalls the Interstellar actor’s failed audition for the role of Jack in the epic, Oscar-winning disaster movie.
“We brought him in to do a scene with Kate [Winslet],” Landau writes in an excerpt published by Puck. “You want to check for chemistry — not just how people look on film, but how they interact.”
Landau claims that Winslet, who played Rose in the film, was “taken” with McConaughey’s “presence and charm,” but director James Cameron was less ecstatic about his audition.
“Matthew did the scene with the drawl,” Landau writes of the actor, referring to his signature natural Texas twang. “‘That’s great,’ said Jim [Cameron]. ‘Now let’s try it a different way.’ Matthew said, ‘No. That was pretty good. Thanks.’ Let’s just say, that was it for McConaughey.”
Representatives for McConaughey and Cameron did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly‘s request for comment.
The True Detective star expressed his enthusiasm for his Titanic audition during a 2018 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I wanted that,” he said of the part, which ultimately went to Leonardo DiCaprio. “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.”
Winslet recalled briefly working with McConaughey on The Late Show in 2017. “I auditioned with Matthew, which was completely fantastic,” the actress said, noting that the movie would have been “completely different” if he’d been cast instead of DiCaprio. “It just wouldn’t have been the whole ‘Jack and Rose, Kate and Leo’ thing.”
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Matthew McConaughey in Las Vegas in 1997
Cameron has acknowledged that the Titanic team liked McConaughey’s audition but preferred DiCaprio’s. “The Matthew thing has become mythic,” Cameron said during a 2019 interview on The Tonight Show (via The Wrap). “But I just want to say, ‘Matthew, if you’re watching, are we good? It wasn’t me, man. I didn’t spread this rumor.'”
In 2021, McConaughey clarified that his pursuit of the part actually led to a screen test, not just an audition, and shut down the “not factual” rumors that he rejected an offer to play Jack.
“I asked Cameron about this because the sort of gossip over the years that I had heard and would see written about me was that I had the role of Titanic and turned it down,” the actor said on the podcast Literally! With Rob Lowe. “I never got offered that as far as I know, I’m telling you. I did go have a good screen test [and] thought I had the role, but did not get the role.”
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McConaughey isn’t the only A-lister who missed out on playing Jack Dawson. Paul Rudd said he auditioned for the part (and really wanted to join the project due to his father’s lifelong fascination with the doomed ocean liner), and Ethan Hawke said he attempted to secure it — though he added that he’s glad he didn’t achieve the superstar status the film brought DiCaprio. Christian Bale also tried out for the role, according to a biography by his former assistant.
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