Matthew McConaughey talks about feeling a "sense of insignificance" during his 2-year break from acting

Matthew McConaughey has had a successful run in romantic comedies, from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days with Kate Hudson to the box office hit Failure to Launch with Sarah Jessica Parker. However, the actor had felt trapped in the rom-com leading man archetype, leading him to step away from the spotlight for a couple of years.

Talking about how he came to the decision to take a break from acting, he told Glen Powell during their June 10, 2024, sit-down conversation for Interview Magazine:

"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."

While his acting hiatus was an uncertain thing for the actor to embark on, he knew it was what he needed to do. He added:

"The days are long—the sense of insignificance. But I made up my mind that that's what I needed to do, so I wasn't going to pull the parachute and quit the mission I was on. But it was scary, because I didn't know if I was ever going to get out of the desert."

When Powell asked McConaughey about how his two-year hiatus had looked, the Interstellar actor admitted that "it was scary."

---

Matthew McConaughey talks about hiatus and returning to Hollywood after two years

Recalling his 2-year hiatus, Matthew McConaughey remembered telling his wife, Camilla about "needing to find a new vocation." He also shared with Powell his plans at the time included thinking:

"I'm going to teach high school classes. I think I'm going to study to be a conductor. I think I'm going to go be a wildlife guide."

Eventually, McConaughey returned to the acting scene and successfully left the romantic comedy genre, embracing more dramatic roles in films like The Lincoln Lawyer, Dallas Buyers Club, and The Wolf of Wall Street.

Talking about "ghost stories," Powell told McConaughey that there are plenty of people who did the same thing he did—step away from Hollywood and never managed to come back successfully or at all. The True Detective actor shared the same sentiments, saying that "there's plenty of those stories."

The two actors also talked about being "discerning" with the roles they take. During their conversation, the Anyone But You star shared:

"You have to buy into the longer journey. Trust the decades-long career rather than the short and intense one."

McConaughey agreed and shared that he had similar run-ins with saying no to certain roles and projects. He recalled a time in his career:

"I'm like, 'I don't know what I want to do, I just know I don't want to do that.'"

Fortunately for Matthew McConaughey, he was among the lucky ones to have returned to Hollywood and had become even more successful than he was before. Matthew McConaughey won Best Actor for the Dallas Buyers Club at the 2014 Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, and the Oscars.