Matthew McConaughey turned down $14.5 million during acting hiatus: No more rom-coms

Matthew McConaughey took a big gamble, and it paid off.The “Dazed and Confused” star has revealed how he once turned down a whopping $14.5 million paycheck because he no longer wanted to be typecast as a rom-com actor.McConaughey, 55, opened up about the offer and his decision to walk away from the big payday during an episode of “The Diary of a CEO” podcast released Thursday, Sept.18.“I was getting quantity, but I wasn’t getting the quality,” he recalled.

“What I want to do is dramas, but Hollywood won’t offer me one, no matter how big a pay cut I take.”Before McConaughey changed his trajectory and began focusing on more dramatic roles, he starred in popular rom-coms like “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” “Failure to Launch,” “Fool’s Gold” and “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.”“If I can’t do what I want to do, I’m going to quit doing what I’ve been doing,” the “Lost Bus” star continued.“[I] chose to, boom, go to the ranch in Texas.

Told my agent, ‘No more rom-coms.'”But after taking a nearly two-year acting hiatus and living on the Texas ranch with his wife, Camila Alves, the offers appeared to dry up – until an opportunity came in for an unnamed action comedy.“$8 million offer.I read it.

I said, ‘No, thank you, that’s the stuff I’m not doing,’” he remembered.“They come back with a $10 million offer, ‘I’m not reading that again, no thank you.’ They come back with a $12 million offer, ‘Guys, tell them I said no thanks.’”“They come back with a $14.5 million offer.

I said, ‘Let me read that again,’” McConaughey laughed.“I read it again, it’s the same words that were in the $8 million offer I said no to, but it was better written.”“It was funnier, I could see myself in it, I could make this work,” he added regarding the potential $14.5 million paycheck.

“Anyway, I ultimately said, ‘No.’”The “Wedding Planner” star’s risky decision paid off, however, and Mc...