Matthew McConaughey has opened up the two-year break he took from acting to reevaluate his career.
McConaughey was catapulted into fame thanks to his roles in a string of romcoms including "The Wedding Planner," "How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days," "Failure To Launch," "Fool’s Gold," and "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past."
And while each film was a massive success, McConaughey found it hard to find work outside the genre.
"I’ve usually zigged when I felt like Hollywood wanted me to zag," he told Interview magazine. "When I had my rom-com years, there was only so much bandwidth I could give to those and those were some solid hits for me. But I wanted to try some other stuff. Of course I wasn’t getting it, so I had to leave Hollywood for two years.”
Looking back, McConaughey admitted it was a "scary" decision to make.
"I had long talks with my wife about needing to find a new vocation," he continued, remembering saying, "I think I’m going to teach high school classes. I think I’m going to study to be a conductor. I think I’m going to go be a wildlife guide."
McConaughey shared that he wrestled with a "sense of insignificance" as he pursued his new path.
"But I made up my mind that that’s what I needed to do, so I wasn’t going to pull the parachute and quit the mission I was on," he added. "But it was scary, because I didn’t know if I was ever going to get out of the desert."
His fears turned out to be unfounded, though. Returning to Hollywood, McConaughey landed roles in more dramatic films like "Mud," "Magic Mike," "Interstellar" and "Dallas Buyers Club," which earned him an Oscar for best actor.
McConaughey revealed in his 2020 memoir that, at the height of his career, he was offered $14.5 million to return to the romcom genre in a new movie, but he declined.
"If I couldn’t do what I wanted, I wasn’t going to do what I didn’t, no matter the price," he said, according to Variety.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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