At one point in his career, Matthew McConaughey was known for hit rom-coms like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and The Wedding Planner. But at the height of his career, the actor decided to switch gears, which ultimately caused him to lose job opportunities worth millions.
In an episode of The Diary of a CEO podcast, McConaughey said he was getting multiple job offers, but “wasn’t getting the quality” he was looking for as a serious actor.
“What I want to do is dramas, but Hollywood won’t offer me one no matter how big of a pay cut I take. If I can’t do what I want to do, I’m going to quit doing what I’ve been doing. [I] Chose to, boom, go to the ranch in Texas. … Told my agent, ‘No more rom-coms,'” said McConaughey.
Because he decided to move away from a genre that made him a husehold name in the 2000s, nothing came in for months.
“This offer comes in for this action comedy. $8 million offer. I read it and I said, ‘No, thank you. That’s the stuff I’m not doing,” he explained.
“They come back with a $10 million offer. I’m not reading that again, no thank you. Come back at a $12 million offer. Guys, tell him I said no thanks. They come back at a $14.5 million offer. I said, ‘Let me read that again,'” he added.
McConaughey doesn’t reveal what the project was or who ended up taking up the offer. There were multiple action movies at the time that could have fit the bill.
“I don’t have any proof of it, but I think that me saying no to that $14.5 million offer a year into me leaving and saying no more rom-coms,” said the actor. “I think me doing that sent the message through Hollywood. Oh, McConaughey is not bluffing. What the f***’s he up to?”
Over a year later, McConaughey started seeing job offers and appeared in highly acclaimed roles like Dallas Buyers Club and True Detective. He admits that if he had never taken a break from Hollywood or been firm in saying “no” to projects he didn’t want, he wouldn’t have gotten the roles.
