Despite his many acting accolades, Matthew McConaughey dropped the ball when he auditioned for the role of Jack Dawson in Titanic in 1996.
McConaughey was, if not a shoo-in, a strong contender for the role: he was a rising Hollywood star thanks to his supporting role in Dazed and Confused in 1993.
He also had undeniable chemistry when he performed his scene with lead actress Kate Winslet. “Kate was taken with Matthew, his presence and charm,” producer Jon Landau wrote in a memoir excerpt obtained by Puck.
But when McConaughey read his lines with his characteristic Texas drawl, James Cameron asked him to do the scene without a Southern accent. “That’s great,” Landau remembers Cameron saying after the screen test, “Now let’s try it a different way.”
“No. That was pretty good. Thanks,” McConaughey reportedly replied. Luckily for Leonardo DiCaprio, McConaughey did not receive a call back from Cameron.
Cameron’s iconic 1997 movie went on to win 11 Oscars and became the highest-grossing film until Cameron’s next film, Avatar, surpassed it.
McConaughey went on to have a prolific career despite missing his chance with Titanic. In 2013, he won an Oscar for his lead performance in Dallas Buyers Club. McConaughey has also been allowed to maintain his signature accent in his various roles, including in films set outside the South, such as Interstellar and The Wolf of Wall Street.
The Daily Beast has reached out to a representative for McConaughey for a comment request.
The rest of Landau’s memoir, The Bigger Picture: My Blockbuster Life & Lessons Learned Along The Way, will be released posthumously on November 4.
The Titanic producer died last July at 63 after a battle with cancer.
