‘Titanic’: Matthew McConaughey Once Shared His Stock Went Down in Hollywood After Losing to Leonardo DiCaprio

Matthew McConaughey was one of a few actors who auditioned for James Cameron’s Titanic. Leonardo DiCaprio would later end up with the role, which would catapult DiCaprio into mega-stardom. But losing out the role may have had the opposite affect on McConaughey.

Kate Winslet once shared what it was like auditioning with Matthew McConaughey

DiCaprio wasn’t the only co-star who Winslet auditioned with on Titanic. There were quite a few young actors who she was paired with vying for DiCaprio’s future role as Jack Dawson. She confirmed that one of those stars was McConaughey himself, who she had high praises for. But the dynamic between Winslet and McConaughey would’ve been far different than the dynamic between herself and DiCaprio.

“I auditioned with Matthew, which was completely fantastic. It just wouldn’t have been the whole, Jack and Rose, Kate and Leo thing,” Winslet once said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Matthew McConaughey’s stock went down in Hollywood after losing ‘Titanic’ to Leonardo DiCaprio

McConaughey losing out on Titanic was a bit of a shock to the Oscar-winner. He corroborated Winslet’s story about auditioning with her for the role, and assumed at the time he did a good enough job to secure the part.

“I wanted that,” McConaughey once told The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast. “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.”

In a resurfaced interview with The Scotsman, McConaughey went into a bit more detail about what happened after losing Titanic. Similarly to DiCaprio, McConaughey was also on the rise as an actor in the 90s. After his breakthrough film Daze And Confused, he continued adding to his film resume with roles in A Time to Kill and Amistad. But the publication noted he became more known for losing out on Titanic.

“My stock went down,” he said about not getting the role.

Titanic might have lined up with the type of acting work McConaughey was truly interested in at the time.

“I was looking to shake things up. I was looking for self-determined, singularly willed, fringe characters that didn’t need to pander to convention or didn’t need to pander to even a plot in some ways. And there’s a singular mind and a goal that each one of the characters I’ve been playing lately has,” he said.

Leonardo DiCaprio almost lost his ‘Titanic role’ because of his attitude

McConaughey and DiCaprio’s careers have both flourished after the era of Titanic. But DiCaprio nearly lost out on the role that so many actors hoped to get because of his attitude. Although Cameron became keen on casting DiCaprio, he still wanted the star to test for the part. But this completely caught DiCaprio off guard, who was against testing.

“He said, ‘Oh, I don’t read,’” Cameron once told GQ about DiCaprio’s reaction. “I shook his hand and said, ‘Thanks for coming by.’ And he said, ‘Wait, wait, wait. If I don’t read, I don’t get the part? Just like that?'”

Cameron explained to a young DiCaprio how reading was essential for his Titanic project.

“Come on. This is a giant movie that is going to take two years of my life, and you’ll be gone doing five other things while I’m doing post-production. So, I’m not going to f*** it up by making the wrong decision in casting. So you’re going to read, or you’re not going to get the part,” Cameron said.