How to lose a role in 10 seconds.
Matthew McConaughey was in contention for the role of Jack Dawson in James Cameron‘s 1997 blockbuster Titanic, but the role ended up going to Leonardo DiCaprio after he refused to acquiesce to the director’s demands.
In Jon Landau‘s upcoming posthumous memoir The Bigger Picture, the producer claims that the Interstellar actor was a front-runner for the film’s male lead and even did a chemistry read with Kate Winslet, who “was taken with Matthew, his presence and charm.”
“Matthew did the scene with the drawl,” Jon recalled, per an excerpt published in Matthew Belloni‘s What I’m Hearing newsletter August 5, which left James asking him to do it again without his Texas accent, saying, “That’s great. Now let’s try it a different way.”
According to Landau, the future Oscar winner wasn’t interested in swapping out his twang, telling the director, “No. That as pretty good. Thanks.”
As Cameron’s longtime producer, who died in 2024 after a battle with cancer, summarized, “Let’s just say, that was it for McConaughey.”
McConaughey had previously shared that he’d gotten to the late-stage auditions for the iconic role.
“I went and read with Kate Winslet, and it was not one of the auditions—they filmed it so it was like into screen test time,” the 55-year-old told Rob Lowe on his podcast Literally! with Rob Lowe in 2021. “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.”
McConaughey added at the time, “I really thought it was going to happen. It did not.”
The Wedding Planner actor went on to maintain that he was never actually offered the role of Jack, despite long-persisting rumors claiming otherwise.
“I asked 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,” he explained. “Not factual. I did not get offered that role.”
While McConaughey obviously went on to have a hugely successful acting career, he admitted that there was part of him that wished he’d gotten cast in the film, which went on to make over $1.5 billion at the box office and win 11 Academy Awards.
“For a while, I was saying, ‘I gotta find that agent. They’re in trouble,’ ” he said. “I did not ever get the offer.”
Keep reading for more iconic roles that almost went to different actors…
