He may be one of the biggest stars in the film industry, an acting talent with numerous accolades to his name, but Matthew McConaughey’s road to the top hasn’t always been straight forward.
The 54-year-old is known for his superb work in such films as A Time to Kill, Dallas Buyers Club, and Interstellar, while his heartwarming persona and undeniable charm has endeared him to the masses.
Yet there was a time, it seems, when he was considering giving up acting altogether. Recently, the actor sat down with Interview Magazine and revealed that at one stage retirement wasn’t far from his thoughts.
McConaughey explained: “I’ve usually zigged when I felt like Hollywood wanted me to zag. 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 two year break offered him a new perspective on things, and it was during this time that the iconic leading man even considered stepping away from Hollywood to pursue an entirely different career.
“Dude, it was scary. I had long talks with my wife about needing to find a new vocation,” he revealed. “I think I’m going to teach high school classes. I think I’m going to study to be a conductor. I think I’m going to go be a wildlife guide.
“I honestly thought, ‘I stepped out of Hollywood. I got out of my lane, the lane Hollywood said I should stay in’, and Hollywood’s like, ‘Well, f**k you, dude. You should have stayed in your lane. Later’.”
He went on: “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.”
Thankfully, McConaughey made a triumphant return to the big screen, and over the past decade he’s been involved in some of the most successful, beloved films of recent times.
During the sit-down with Interview Magazine, the actor also reflected on his breakthrough in the industry, recalling how his fortunes appeared to change overnight after the success of his first big flick.
“For me, going back to A Time to Kill, after I first had a big success in a major studio picture and became famous, I remembered that the Thursday before that movie opened, there’s 100 scripts out there that I would’ve done, and 99 of them I could not book,” he said.
“Over that one weekend, 99 no’s became 99 yeses.
“I was like, ‘What? Three days ago, I’d have done any of these! And now you’re asking me which one I want to do?’ It was a hell of a shocking thing. I chucked on a backpack and went to Peru for three weeks just so I could hear myself think.”
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