McConaughey on Leaving Rom-Coms for Drama

Matthew McConaughey said that despite blockbuster success in early-2000s romantic comedies he felt creatively unfulfilled and deliberately stepped away to pursue more challenging work. With support from his wife Camila Alves but skepticism from his brothers, he enacted a roughly 20-month hiatus, relocated his family to Texas and repeatedly turned down big offers — reportedly up to $14.5 million — to prove he was not “for rent.” The pause led studios to offer dramatic parts including The Lincoln Lawyer, Mud, HBO’s True Detective, Interstellar and Dallas Buyers Club, the last of which earned him an Academy Award and helped launch the so-called “McConaissance.” McConaughey says the risk was necessary to make his work “vital and alive” and has connected his insistence on purposeful work to broader remarks about a crisis of direction among younger men.