“I said yes to too many things.” These roles forced Matthew McConaughey to flee Hollywood

Matthew McConaughey took a big risk years ago to forge his way into roles other than in rom-coms in which he was trapped.

Edyta Jastrzebska

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Source: The Gentlemen, Guy Ritchie, Miramax, 2019

There is no denying the fact that Matthew McConaughey became famous for his roles in rom-coms. The actor was their true star, which attracted crowds of viewers to theaters. At some point, however, he noticed that this genre was the only thing he was famous for, and it was difficult for him to break out of it, as filmmakers were not interested in casting him in roles other than love objects.

This, in turn, became a problem for McConaughey, who wanted to try something new and grow, moving away from the things he had been doing for a good part of his career. The actor said in the Good Trouble podcast that the industry's reluctance to cast him in films other than romantic comedies led him to leave Hollywood and move to Texas with his family.

He rebelled in this way, wanting to show that he would not act until he was given roles that suited him.

Look, man, the devil’s in the infinite yeses, not the nos. “No” is just as important, if not more important. Especially if you have some level of success and access. “No” becomes more important than “yes.” Because, I mean, we can all look around and see we’ve over-leveraged our life with yeses and going, “Geez, oh man. I’m making C-minuses and all this shit in my life because I said yes to too many things.”

When I was rolling with the rom-coms, and I was the “rom-com dude,” that was my lane and I liked that lane. That lane paid well, and it was working. I was so strong in that lane that anything outside that lane – dramas and stuff that I want[ed] to do – were like, “No, no, no. No, McConaughey.” Hollywood said, “No, no, no. You should stay there.” So, since I couldn’t do what I wanted to do, I stopped doing what I was doing, and I moved down to the ranch in Texas. I’m not going back to work unless I get offered roles I want to do.

McConaughey stuck to his resolve until he finally got roles in Mud, Interstellar and Dallas Buyers Club. His persistence paid off, although, as he confessed, such a decision at the height of his career was risky and made him anxious. He didn't know how it would develop further and whether he would still have a career, or perhaps lose everything by wanting to stake his claim. He told Glen Powell about his fears during an interview for Interview magazine.

I stepped out of Hollywood. I got out of my lane. The lane Hollywood said I should stay in, and [I thought] Hollywood [would say], ‘Well, fuck you, dude. You should have stayed in your lane’ It was scary. The days are long — the sense of insignificance. 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. But it was scary, because I didn’t know if I was ever going to get out of the desert.

McConaughey confessed that the decision to rebel and put his own spin on things actually determined his success and helped him, because in doing so he showed that he wasn't kidding around, and in the process sparked interest. This allowed him to break out of the snare of romantic comedies and try his hand at other genres, showing that locking him into one type of film would be a mistake.

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Edyta Jastrzebska

Author: Edyta Jastrzebska

A graduate of journalism and social communication as well as cultural studies. She started at Gamepressure.com as one of the newspeople in the films department. Currently she oversees the Gamepressure movie&TV newsroom. She excels in the field of film and television, both in reality-based and fantasy themes. Keeps up with industry trends, but in her free time she prefers to watch less known titles. Has a complicated relationship with popular ones, which is why she only gets convinced about many of them when the hype around them subsides. Loves to spend her evenings not only watching movies, series, reading books and playing video games, but also playing text RPGs, which she has been into for several years.