Matthew McConaughey took a big leap to be seen as a serious actor in Hollywood.
The Interstellar star opened up about making his way in the industry with bold moves including saying no to $14.5 million paycheck, in a recent chat on the latest episode of The Diary of a CEO podcast.
The 55-year-old actor, known for his romantic-comedy roles in “How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days,” “My Boyfriend’s Back” and many more, shared that he wanted to consider more serious acting roles and reinvent his image in the acting world.
The multimillion offer for a rom-com role came after his decision of moving to his ranch in Texas with his wife Camila Alves in the mid-2000s.
Matthew said he went 20-months without getting any offers, until an action comedy role finally came along.
“$8 million offer. I read it. I said, ‘No, thank you, that’s the stuff I’m not doing,’” he recalled to host Steven Bartlett. “They come back with a $10 million offer, ‘I’m not reading that again, no thank you.’ They come back with a $12 million offer, ‘Guys, tell them I said no thanks.’”
“They come back with a $14.5 million offer. I said, ‘Let me read that again,’” he said light-heartedly. “I read it again, it’s the same words that were in the $8 million offer I said no to but it was better written.”
“It was funnier, I could see myself in it, I could make this work. Anyway, I ultimately said, ‘No.’”
“I think that me saying no to that $14.5 million offer — a year into me leaving and saying ‘no more rom-coms’ — I think me doing that sent the message through Hollywood, ‘Oh, McConaughey is not bluffing.’”
The first movie he starred in after the hiatus was 2011 thriller/crime movie, The Lincoln Lawyer.
Referring to his projects like Interstellar, Killer Joe, Mud, Dallas Buyers Club, Magic Mike, and other serious roles, Matthew admitted they would have never offered if he had kept doing romcoms.
“Would those have come if I’d have never stepped out? No. No. They wouldn’t have,” he added.
