Matthew McConaughey reflects on his rom-com fame: “I had to leave Hollywood”
Any actor who ticks the boxes marked handsome, charming, charismatic and ripped is inevitably going to field plenty of offers to star in rom-coms, but Matthew McConaughey ended up getting so comfortable in that wheelhouse that he found himself with no other choice but to take a sabbatical.
It was clear from the beginning of his career that he was no slouch in the dramatic department, with performances in films like A Time to Kill, Contact, Amistad, and Frailty making it abundantly clear that he was more than just a pretty face, but the biggest paydays and largest box office totals tended to come when he was flashing that megawatt grin in a frothy romance.
In the space of only eight years, McConaughey became the erstwhile face of the Hollywood rom-com after appearing in The Wedding Planner, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Failure to Launch, Fool’s Gold, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, with meaty roles he could sink his teeth into becoming gradually fewer and further between.
Realising he was in danger of stagnating, McConaughey felt obligated to distance himself as far from the business as possible, to the point he considered taking up an entirely different profession. “I’ve usually zigged when I felt like Hollywood wanted me to zag,” he said to Interview. “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.”
The star admitted he “had long talks with my wife about needing to find a new vocation,” which even saw him contemplating “going to teach high school classes” or “study to be a conductor” or “be a wildlife guide.” Cooler heads eventually prevailed when instead of exiting the business completely, he removed himself from “the lane Hollywood said I should stay in.”
Of course, the end result was the McConaissance, which turned into the greatest period of his professional life. Easing himself back into the fray, The Lincoln Lawyer marked his first theatrical credit in 22 months, which he swiftly followed with Richard Linklater’s Bernie, William Friedkin’s Killer Joe, Jeff Nichols’ Mud, Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike, and Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy.
The best was still to come, though, with Dallas Buyers Club netting him an Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’, and the hot streak continued with his scene-stealing contributions to Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. Needless to say, that two-year break was the best decision he could have made.
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