Matthew McConaughey reveals why he 'left Hollywood for two years' and almost quit acting
Matthew McConaughey has confessed he almost turned his back on acting and considered becoming a high school teacher instead after becoming jaded by Hollywood.
The Oscar-winning actor, 54, originally shot to fame in 1996 courtroom drama A Time To Kill, the success of which resulted in him becoming one of the most in-demand stars of romantic comedies in the noughties.
Among his many acting credits at the time were The Wedding Planner (2001) opposite Jennifer Lopez, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) with Kate Hudson, and 2006’s Failure to Launch (2006) which saw him team up with Sarah Jessica Parker.
After a solid decade of doing the same thing however, McConaughey started wondering if the grass might be greener elsewhere.
Opening up to Interview Magazine, he explained: “I've usually zigged when I felt like Hollywood wanted me to zag. When I had my rom-com years, there was only so much bandwidth I could give to those, and those were some solid hits for me.
“But I wanted to try some other stuff. Of course I wasn't getting it, so I had to leave Hollywood for two years.”
Matthew McConaughey Hollywood Walk Of Fame
In that time which he described as “scary”, he says he considered other jobs such as a high school teacher or a conductor as he “stepped out of Hollywood” and had “got out of my lane”.
He explained this “lane” as the one “Hollywood said I should stay in, and Hollywood’s like, ‘‘Well, f*** you, dude,you should have stayed in your lane. Later.’”
