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Matthew McConaughey Reveals He ‘Nailed’ His ‘Titanic’ Audition But ‘Never Got the Role’

Everything happens for a reason. Matthew McConaughey was one of the many young actors who auditioned for Titanic in the late ‘90s, but things didn’t go quite as he expected.

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The Oscar winner, 49, was a guest on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen on Thursday, January 24, and was asked to recall the audition by a fan.

“What was your Titanic audition with Kate Winslet like and do you think you could’ve done a better job than [Leonardo DiCaprio]?” a caller asked, to which he replied, “The audition went really well.”

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He continued: “Well enough where when I left I was being glad-handed and slapped on the back, like, ‘This is what we’re looking for. You got it.’ Well enough where you get outside, you call your agent and you go, ‘Oh, I nailed it. This is happening. They’re all happy too.’”

Matthew McConaughey ‘Nailed’ His ‘Titanic’ Audition, ‘Never Got the Role’
Matthew McConaughey on ‘Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen’.

The Interstellar actor then addressed speculation that he was offered the lead role of Jack Dawson in the 1997 film, but turned it down. “There was a rumor — and [director] James Cameron started this rumor somehow — that I got the role and didn’t do it. This is false,” McConaughey said. “If I did get the role and didn’t do it, that agent who said I wasn’t doing it is in big trouble. So, no, I never got the role. The audition went great. I actually did think I had it.”

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Over a decade has passed since the critically acclaimed movie hit theaters and McConaughey is over the loss. “It worked out without me,” he quipped. Titanic was nominated for 14 trophies at the 1998 Academy Awards and ended up with 11, including Best Picture.

Things worked out for Texas native in the end. He eventually landed a roles in Robert ZemeckisContact and Steven Spielberg’s Amistad, both of which came out in ’97, the same year as Titanic. More than a decade later, the actor went on to win the 2014 Best Actor Oscar for his part in Dallas Buyers Club.

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