--- 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: 2026-10-13T08:05:21.350Z 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=1188&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1188 og:image:height: 668 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=1188&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Actor Really Thought He Landed Leonardo DiCaprio's Part in _Titanic_ > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=403f16db-c82a-4f43-b425-0cd9b64c860b&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Did a Fire Sink the Titanic? These 7 Other Factors Could Have Also Played a Role [Watch (HLS stream): Did a Fire Sink the Titanic? These 7 Other Factors Could Have Also Played a Role](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qRpNrIhG.m3u8) (1:06)  _Published 2017-01-04. The iceberg gets too much credit for the sinking of the famous ship, according to some theories_  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 6, 2018 10:04 PM UTC  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.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] ```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":"2026-10-13T08:05:21.350Z","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"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Did a Fire Sink the Titanic? 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