‘Titanic’ memoir reveals how Matthew McConaughey blew his audition

The producer of Titanic revealed that Matthew McConaughey’s refusal to drop his Southern accent meant he blew his audition for the blockbuster.

James Cameron’s 1997 romantic epic was a worldwide phenomenon, and the most successful film of all time until the director’s 2009 film Avatar took the crown. Leonardo DiCaprio was shot to stardom in the lead as Jack Dawson, the lower-class passenger who falls for upper class woman Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet).

The producer of the film, Jon Landau, wrote his memoir The Bigger Picture before his passing in July 2024, aged 63. In an excerpt from the book, shared by Puck, the mogul recalled that McConaughey impressed during his audition, until a disagreement with Cameron led to him being ruled out.

“We brought him in to do a scene with Kate (Winslet)” he wrote. “You want to check for chemistry, not just how people look on film but how they interact. Kate was taken with Matthew, his presence and charm. Matthew did the scene with the drawl.

“‘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”.

In 2018 the actor, who would go on to find stardom elsewhere, including winning an Oscar in 2014, talked about the experience from a different perspective. “I went and auditioned for that. I wanted that” he told The Hollywood Reporter.

“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”.

In March, The Goonies actor Corey Feldman revealed he was in “contention” for the role of Jack in Titanic, and that he read for the role before losing out to DiCaprio. Late last year, Margot Robbie said she listened to the main theme from the film to make her cry on the set of The Wolf Of Wall Street.

The post ‘Titanic’ memoir reveals how Matthew McConaughey blew his audition appeared first on NME.