Matthew McConaughey Clears Up Rumors About His Titanic Audition

Matthew McConaughey was among the actors who auditioned for the lead male role in James Cameron's Titanic, and the actor has now cleared up a rumor about how it all went down.

McConaughey said on actor Rob Lowe's podcast that it was reported he was offered the role of Jack Dawson and he turned it down--but that is not true. "The gossip over the years that I had heard, and would see written about me, was that I had the role and turned it down," he said. "Not factual. I did not get offered that role. I did not ever get the offer, and [director James Cameron] finally confirmed that."

McConaughey said he advanced through the audition process and landed a screen test alongside Kate Winslet, but it's simply not true that he had the role and turned it down. Leonardo DiCaprio ultimately got the part and it was his big breakout hit when he was only 22.

Rob Lowe, meanwhile, auditioned for the role of the bad guy Caledon Hockley that Billy Zane eventually got, so Titanic indeed could have been a very different-looking movie. Lowe also got far into the process, as he said he conducted a screen test that was filmed by Cameron himself. But it was not meant to be.

Although McConaughey and Lowe didn't land the Titanic parts, they both went on to have successful careers. Lowe was already a star at the time of Titanic, as he starred in St. Elmo's Fire (1985) and Wayne's World (1992), among many other film and TV projects in the '80s and '90s, before Titanic was released. He also starred in Robert Zemeckis' Contact in 1997, the year that Titanic was released. As for McConaughey, he also starred in Contact that year before going on to have a prosperous career in a variety of rom-coms and action movies. He won an Academy Award for his leading role in 2013's Dallas Buyers Club.

Titanic was a momentous movie that still stands as the third highest-grossing movie in history with more than $2.4 billion at the global box office. It was also a critical success, notching 11 Academy Award wins, including Best Picture and Best Director.