Matthew McConaughey Fumbled ‘Titanic’ Role For the Funniest Reason
The Wolf of Wall Street’s actor almost got into Leonardo DiCaprio’s way for James Cameron’s epic movie, but dropped out just because he, well, kinda wanted to.
Some movies are just impossible to imagine with a slightest change in their main cast, and Titanic might be on the top of the list.
The screen duo of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in James Cameron’s Titanic is still regarded as one of the best movie couples of all time, with some fans wishing this was also true in real life to this day.
However, it took Cameron a while to find the right candidates among thousands more, eventually ending up with Leonardo DiCaprio and Matthew McConaughey as two frontrunners for Jack Dawson’s role.
In fact, the director’s final decision could have been way more different hadn’t McConaughey intentionally failed his audition.
Matthew McConaughey Boasted of His Southern Accent During ‘Titanic’ Audition
Dazed and Confused's actor was one of the brightest stars of the moment back in the day, which allowed McConaughey to have a list of roles to choose from.
James Cameron was seemingly smitten with McConaughey’s success too, especially since his and Kate Winslet’s chemistry proved itself to be undeniable even during the first read.
“Kate was taken with Matthew, his presence and charm”, Titanic’s producer Jon Landau once revealed in his memoir, the excerpt of which was then published by Puck.
However, Cameron and McConaughey’s fallout was just as quick, revealing itself when the actor read the lines with his Texas accent and the director asked him to do the same in a different way.
“No. That was pretty good. Thanks”, McConaughey reportedly replied, eventually ceding the role to Leonardo DiCaprio.
‘Titanic’ Fans Are Happy They Ended Up With Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack
Even though McConaughey was James Cameron’s surprising top choice, many fans still can’t get the idea of the former being famous for the roles of tough guys and still portraying timid Jack Dawson at the same time.
“Leo’s natural speaking voice, particularly when he was younger, is very warm and earnest. It made all the characters he played instantly likeable and familiar. I don’t think anyone else could have played Jack”, Redditor ekm8642 commented on the detail from Titanic’s behind the scenes in a thread.
“He would have been so wrong for the role even if he did lose the accent”, Ok_Nefariousness9736 agreed.
“There’s an innocent and a vulnerability with Leo in the movie that Matthew didn’t have, Matthew would’ve had the air of smugness and arrogance that wouldn’t have worked for Jack”, Iwoulddiefcftbatk said.
