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It took a decade for Matthew McConaughey to put his foot down about romantic comedies-but it all paid off. By 2010 McConaughey was the face of the Rom-Com genre and starred in films like The Wedding Planner, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Failure To Launch, Fool’s Gold, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. But the actor knew he had raw passion and talent and should be starring in more dramatic, emotional, and challenging films.
In 2010 when the actor was offered a $14.5 million paycheck for another romantic comedy-he declined and never looked back. In a recent interview with E!’s Daily Pop, the A-list actor opened up about his memoir and revealed the one Rom-Com he would consider doing.
© GettyImagesRich or not, $14.5 million is a lot of dough. During the interview, when asked if McConaughey regretted his decision to say goodbye to the multi-million-dollar paycheck, he confidently answered “No, I never regretted that.” McConaughey continued, “I was very clear...look, intellectually, that was a hard one to say ‘no’ to. Just looking at that sheer number—are you kidding me? Wow. But I knew I needed to remain on my sabbatical from the films I had been doing for my own soul. And so, no, I never regretted it. But boy, saying ‘no’ to that really solidified my stance for myself. I was like, okay, I’m not breaking now.” He explained that it “sent a signal to Hollywood” and “What followed that was 14 months of absolutely no offers coming in.”
Thankfully, McConaughey knew what he was doing and has since then starred in several highly acclaimed films like The Wolf of Wall Street and Dallas Buyers Club, which earned him his first Oscar. But alas, for his fans who just won’t give up dreams that he could star in other romantic comedy, there is one film he might consider. When asked if he would consider doing a sequel to ‘How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’ he responded, “Possibly.” “I mean, ‘How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’ is teed up, you know, teed up for one that you could easily do a sequel. And that was a really good one. As far as romantic comedies go, that was a really good one… And it lasts!” McConaughey added. “People still love that one. I enjoyed that one quite a bit.”
In addition to being one of the most talented and respected actors in Hollywood, McConaughey is a newly minted New York Times bestselling author for his recent memoir “Greenlights.” He revealed in the interview it was his wife Camila that pushed him to finally do something with dairies he had kept along the way since he was 14. “About three years ago I thought about it and Camila helped me. She said, ‘Quit waiting around. Let’s go away with all those diaries and see what you got,’” he recalled. “So she gave me a kick in the backside and said, ‘Don’t come back home until you do have something.’ So I went away with me and those journals and came back with what is essentially in the book Greenlights.” McConaughey said he wrote the book over 52 days in solitary confinement, “me and myself” he explained. After a year and a half of editing, the first person he let read the final draft was his mother, who “thoroughly enjoyed it.” But he admits his mother is a fan of the other “trophies” and awards he wins from his work on camera because she loves the glitz, glam, and red carpet.
Fun fact: McConaughey is a self-proclaimed “Pickle Expert.” “If you really love pickles as I do and you do try all kinds of pickles all around the world and you have a very specific reason about what you love about a pickle, which I do... I just created the category for myself, I just said hey I am a pickle expert. I‘m not asking permission. I feel confident that I can go up and talk pickles with anyone that wants to talk pickles in the world,” he explained. His favorite? Texas Sweet Heat.
