Matthew McConaughey sank his audition for Titanic lead role because he wouldn't drop Southern dra...

Seems his take on Jack was just alright, alright, alright. Matthew McConaughey sank his audition for Titanic lead role because he wouldn't drop Southern drawl,

Seems his take on Jack was just alright, alright, alright.

Matthew McConaughey sank his audition for Titanic lead role because he wouldn't drop Southern drawl, producer says

Seems his take on Jack was just alright, alright, alright.

By Wesley Stenzel

Published on August 6, 2025 04:46PM EDT

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Matthew McConaughey at the 'Life Is A Dream' in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Jan. 17, 2025; Leonardo DiCaprio in 'Titanic'. Credit:

Cedric Ribeiro/Getty; Merie W. Wallace/Paramount

Matthew McConaughey wasn't quite "king of the world' material in the mid-'90s.

In the forthcoming memoir *The Bigger Picture*, the late *Titanic* producer Jon Landau recalls the *Interstellar* actor's failed audition for the role of Jack in the epic, Oscar-winning disaster movie.

"We brought him in to do a scene with Kate [Winslet]," Landau writes in an excerpt published by Puck. "You want to check for chemistry — not just how people look on film, but how they interact."

Landau claims that Winslet, who played Rose in the film, was "taken" with McConaughey's "presence and charm," but director James Cameron was less ecstatic about his audition.

"Matthew did the scene with the drawl," Landau writes of the actor, referring to his signature natural Texas twang. "'That's great,' said Jim [Cameron]. 'Now let's try it a different way.' Matthew said, 'No. That was pretty good. Thanks.' Let's just say, that was it for McConaughey."

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Representatives for McConaughey and Cameron did not immediately respond to **'s request for comment.

The *True Detective* star expressed his enthusiasm for his *Titanic* audition during a 2018 interview with *The Hollywood Reporter*. "I wanted that," he said of the part, which ultimately went to Leonardo DiCaprio. "I auditioned with Kate Winslet. Had a good audition. Walked away from there pretty confident that I had it. I didn't get it. I never got offered that."

Winslet recalled briefly working with McConaughey on *The Late Show* in 2017. "I auditioned with Matthew, which was completely fantastic," the actress said, noting that the movie would have been "completely different" if he'd been cast instead of DiCaprio. "It just wouldn't have been the whole 'Jack and Rose, Kate and Leo' thing."

Matthew McConaughey in Las Vegas in 1997.

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Cameron has acknowledged that the *Titanic* team liked McConaughey's audition but preferred DiCaprio's. "The Matthew thing has become mythic," Cameron said during a 2019 interview on *The Tonight Show *(via The Wrap). "But I just want to say, 'Matthew, if you're watching, are we good? It wasn't me, man. I didn't spread this rumor.'"

In 2021, McConaughey clarified that his pursuit of the part actually led to a screen test, not just an audition, and shut down the "not factual" rumors that he rejected an offer to play Jack.

"I asked Cameron about this because the sort of gossip over the years that I had heard and would see written about me was that I had the role of *Titanic* and turned it down," the actor said on the podcast *Literally! With Rob Lowe*. "I never got offered that as far as I know, I'm telling you. I did go have a good screen test [and] thought I had the role, but did not get the role."

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McConaughey isn't the only A-lister who missed out on playing Jack Dawson. Paul Rudd said he auditioned for the part (and really wanted to join the project due to his father's lifelong fascination with the doomed ocean liner), and Ethan Hawke said he attempted to secure it — though he added that he's glad he didn't achieve the superstar status the film brought DiCaprio. Christian Bale also tried out for the role, according to a biography by his former assistant.

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Source: "AOL Movies"

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