At this point, Leonardo DiCaprio is pretty much synonymous with Titanic — but what if the role had actually be filled by Matthew McConaughey? As it turns out, he actually auditioned to play Jack.
During an appearance on The Hollywood Reporter‘s “Awards Chatter” podcast, McConaughey not only tried out for the part, but he even got far enough to read against Kate Winslet, who went on to star as Jack’s love interest, Rose.
“I went and auditioned,” McConaughey said. “I wanted that. I auditioned with Kate Winslet. Had a good audition. Walked away from there pretty confident that I had it. I didn’t get it. I never got offered that.”
McConaughey never found out exactly why he lost the role to Leo, but he said he hopes that he didn’t miss out because his agent never got back to him.
“And as I’ve said before, not even half jokingly if it’s true, if that was an offer and it didn’t come to me, I’ve got to go back and go, ‘I’ve got to meet in an alley with that agent,’” McConaughey joked.
Oh, what could’ve been.