A specific detail from a book by the late producer of the Hollywood classic, “Titanic”, has stunned fans of the movie.
While it is hard to think of any other actors doing better than Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as Jack and Rose, it turns out that another movie star was close to playing the male lead in the record-breaking project.
The brain behind the historic movie, late Jon Landau, in his memoir, revealed that Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey actually came in to read for him and director James Cameron.
According to him, however, even though Kate was more than happy to work with McConaughey, the team was not pleased with his decision to retain his usual Southern accent for the audition.
Jon stated that the actor was asked to use an accent that aligned with Jack’s character, who was originally from Wisconsin in the Midwest of America, but McConaughey refused, forcing the crew to look for someone else.
“We brought him in to do a scene with Kate. You want to check for chemistry – not just how people look on film but how they interact.
James Cameron told him to try it a different way, he responded: ‘No. That was pretty good. Thanks’,” he wrote.
Interestingly, Matthew’s version of events is quite different from what the deceased had to say.
Speaking on the podcast “Literally” in 2021, the movie star noted that the crew told him that his audition was good enough, and he left the venue with the confidence that he would get the role.
He concluded by saying that rumours that he rejected the chance to play Jack are false because he never got the role.
“I went and read with Kate Winslet… they filmed it so it was, like, into screen test time. After we left, you know, it was one of those ones where they followed me and when we got outside they were like, ‘That went great’. I mean, kind of like hugs.
I really thought it was going to happen. It did not.
The gossip over the years that I heard and would see written about me was that I had the role in Titanic and turned it down. Not factual. I did not get offered that role,” he added.
