Matthew McConaughey says his missed shot at Titanic had nothing to do with his accent, despite what the rumours claim.
The Interstellar star was almost cast as Jack Dawson before Leonardo DiCaprio snagged up the role, with theories ranging from miscommunication to his Texan accent.
“That’s rumour,” McConaughey said on the October 20th episode of Hello Sunshine’s The Bright Side Podcast. “There was never any discussion about an accent or anything.”
The 55-year-old actor explained the real reason was much simpler. “I just didn’t get the job,” he admitted.
An upcoming memoir by the film’s late co-producer Jon Landau suggested otherwise, claiming the Texas native lost the part because of his Southern drawl.
In a teaser published by Matthew Belloni’s What I’m Hearing newsletter back in August, Landau recalled that McConaughey was asked by director James Cameron to try the lines again with a different accent. According to Landau, McConaughey declined, reportedly saying, “No. That was pretty good. Thanks.”
But McConaughey says that wasn’t the case. On The Bright Side podcast, he recalled his “great” audition opposite Kate Winslet and feeling “pretty confident that maybe I’d landed it. But I didn’t.”
The How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days actor added that he even checked with Cameron years later after hearing claims he’d turned down the job. “We got that cleared up,” he said.
Still, McConaughey has no hard feelings. “I wanted it,” he said, “but, I mean, there’s plenty of jobs out there that I wanted to get that I didn’t get.”
