--- title: Matthew McConaughey Lost Out on Playing Jack in Titanic description: If Matthew McConaughey had gotten his way, moviegoers would've been mourning a very different Jack at the end of Titanic. canonical: https://time.com/5446488/matthew-mcconaughey-titanic/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-06T22:04:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:55:52.177Z og:title: This Actor Really Thought He Landed the Jack Role in Titanic og:description: The king of the world who could've been og:url: https://time.com/5446488/matthew-mcconaughey-titanic/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7a3ebe43f285f28/6988dd47e76ad2536f62f192/screen-shot-2017-09-11-at-3-25-51-pm.png?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Titanic-Kate-Winslet-Leonardo-Dicaprio og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Actor Really Thought He Landed the Jack Role in Titanic twitter:description: The king of the world who could've been twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7a3ebe43f285f28/6988dd47e76ad2536f62f192/screen-shot-2017-09-11-at-3-25-51-pm.png?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Actor Really Thought He Landed Leonardo DiCaprio's Part in _Titanic_  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 6, 2018 10:04 PM UTC  Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio dancing in a scene from Titanic Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio dancing in a scene from Titanic20th Century-Fox/Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 6, 2018 10:04 PM UTC If [Matthew McConaughey](http://time.com/5392960/matthew-mcconaughey-on-jimmy-fallon/) had gotten his way, moviegoers would’ve been mourning a very different Jack at the end of [_Titanic_](http://time.com/5068748/titanic-movie-20th-anniversary-review/). During an appearance on Saturday’s episode of [_The Hollywood Reporter_](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/awards-chatter-podcast-matthew-mcconaughey-white-boy-rick-1148521)[‘s](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/awards-chatter-podcast-matthew-mcconaughey-white-boy-rick-1148521) _Awards Chatter_ podcast, the 49-year-old actor revealed that he had gone out for the lead role in James Cameron’s 1998 Best Picture winner—and even thought he was a shoe-in—but ultimately lost out on the part to Leonardo DiCaprio. “I wanted that,” he said. “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.” But it seems like McConaughey ultimately wasn’t too fazed by by the missed opportunity because he got to keep living it up while starring in high-paying rom-coms. “I was also living on a beach and going out without my shirt on, just like I did before I was famous,” he said of his life during that time_. “_I was living a romantic comedy.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5446488/matthew-mcconaughey-titanic/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5446488/matthew-mcconaughey-titanic/"},"headline":"This Actor Really Thought He Landed Leonardo DiCaprio's Part in Titanic","datePublished":"2018-11-06T22:04:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:55:52.177Z","description":"The king of the world who could've been","url":"https://time.com/5446488/matthew-mcconaughey-titanic/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","titanic","Leonardo DiCaprio","Matthew McConaughey"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7a3ebe43f285f28/6988dd47e76ad2536f62f192/screen-shot-2017-09-11-at-3-25-51-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7a3ebe43f285f28/6988dd47e76ad2536f62f192/screen-shot-2017-09-11-at-3-25-51-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Titanic-Kate-Winslet-Leonardo-Dicaprio","caption":"Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio dancing in a scene from Titanic","creditText":"20th Century-Fox/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5446488/matthew-mcconaughey-titanic/","name":"This Actor Really Thought He Landed Leonardo DiCaprio's Part in Titanic"}}]}] ```