Though having left the genre behind, Matthew McConaughey recalls how a fortune-teller was behind his rom-com success. Having first found success with his work in more dramatic fare with Joel Schumacher’s A Time to Kill and Steven Spielberg’s Amistad in the ’90s, among others, McConaughey began looking to the brighter side of things at the turn of the millennia starring in the likes of satirical comedy EDtv and the Jennifer Lopez-co-starring The Wedding Planner. Though the latter was a box office success, it would be his next film in the genre that would propel him to further stardom.
While speaking with Vanity Fair to discuss the film’s 20th anniversary, Matthew McConaughey reflected on his decision to star in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. The actor recalls being approached by a fortune-teller shortly after being offered the future hit rom-com, who convinced him to star in the film, subsequently putting him on the path to stardom in the genre. See what McConaughey recalled below:
I remember considering whether I was going to do it or not one night while on a walk down Sunset Boulevard when suddenly, this guy comes up out of nowhere to me—he was a fortune-teller guru [and] goes, “Can I tell you your fortune real quick?” I was like, “Yeah, man. Sure.” He immediately goes, “There’s a movie you’re considering right now. It’s a romantic comedy. You have to do this or it will be one of the biggest regrets of your life. It is going to be a blast, it is going to be an incredible experience and it is going to make a bunch of money.” I remember thinking, Did the studio hire this guy? I laughed at the thought, but I also remember taking a more serious consideration. I think I even accepted the offer the next day.
How McConaughey’s Career Has Developed Over The Years
Following How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days‘ success, McConaughey became synonymous with the rom-com genre, starring in Failure to Launch with Sarah Jessica Parker, Fool’s Gold, on which he reunited with Kate Hudson, and the Christmas Carol twist Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. The star began to enjoy a career resurgence in the early 2010s that became known as the McConaissance with his work in The Lincoln Lawyer, Bernie, Killer Joe and Mud. This string of hits saw an all-time high when McConaughey brought home to Oscar for Best Actor with his work in Dallas Buyers Club and both a Golden Globe and Emmy nomination for True Detective.
After returning to blockbuster filmmaking with Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, McConaughey has returned to more modest budget fare, starring in everything from Gus Van Sant’s The Sea of Trees to Gary Ross’ Free State of Jones. Recent years have seen a variety of misses in his filmography, however, as his adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower was widely panned and underperformed at the box office. Additionally, the mystery thriller Serenity was a critical and commercial failure after lackluster marketing.
The past couple of years have been kinder to McConaughey thanks to his turns in Guy Ritchie’s The Gentleman, on which he co-produced, and Illumination’s Sing franchise, whose 2021 sequel became the tenth-highest-grossing film of its year with over $407 million grossed. After some talks of a political run in Texas, McConaughey was set to return to film with the fact-based soccer drama Dallas Sting at Skydance, only for the studio to pull the plug amid conflicting details regarding the story’s real facts. While audiences wait to see what comes next from him, they can revisit How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days for its 20th anniversary with the film streaming on Paramount+ now.
