Matthew McConaughey has opened up about his success in early 2000s romantic comedies, which he said left him unfulfilled, prompting a career hiatus.
Speaking with The Guardian in an interview, the 55-year-old actor reflected on the period when films such as “The Wedding Planner” (2001), “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” (2003), and “Failure to Launch” (2006) made him one of the most bankable stars in the genre. He went on to headline “Fool’s Gold” (2008) and “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” (2009), both box office draws that cemented his image as a leading man in romantic comedies.
Despite the financial gains, McConaughey said the work left him restless.
“I was good at something I wasn’t loving,” he said. “I want to go for it, I want to see if my work can be an experience for me that is so vital and alive that it challenges the vitality I’m having in my own life.”
After “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past,” he stopped taking roles for nearly two years. At the time, he and his wife, Camila Alves, had welcomed their first child. Alves supported the decision, but other family members urged him to reconsider.
“My brothers were like, ‘Little brother, what is your major mal-f——-function? What are you thinking?'” McConaughey recalled. “And I was like, ‘No, this is clear to me and Camila, we’re going to do this. We’re not going to pull parachute. We’re gonna ride this.'”
The actor said he spent about 20 months turning down offers until studios began approaching him with roles outside the romantic comedy mold. His comeback included “The Lincoln Lawyer” (2011), a role that reestablished him as a dramatic lead. Over the following years, he starred in HBO’s “True Detective” (2014), Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” (2014), and won the Academy Award for best actor in 2014 for “Dallas Buyers Club.” The series of performances was widely described as the “McConaissance.”
McConaughey has previously spoken about his decision to pause his career. In a 2020 sit-down with Interview magazine, he explained that he deliberately stepped away when he realized Hollywood was only offering him romantic comedies.
“I’ve usually zigged when I felt like Hollywood wanted me to zag,” he said. “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.”
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