To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Not now
OK
Advert
Advert
Advert

Matthew McConaughey says fortune teller told him to take role in How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days

Katherine Sidnell

Published 
| Last updated 

Matthew McConaughey says fortune teller told him to take role in How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days

Featured Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

Matthew McConaughey refused to play his iconic role in How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days, but fate seemingly had another idea.

The Oscar winning actor revealed that he nearly declined the part of Ben, because he’d already played the romantic lead in The Wedding Planner opposite Jennifer Lopez.

Loading…

Advert

And it's a good thing he didn't as How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days, which was originally released in 2003, has now become a classic for those who love a good rom-com.

Kate Hudson stars as Andie Anderson who decides to write an article titled 'How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days' after her friend's particularly messy breakup.

Wanting to prove that she can drive a man away by doing everything 'a woman shouldn't do', she then meets McConaughey's Benjamin Barry and, in typical rom-com fashion, hijinxs ensues.

However, the Dallas Buyer's Club star didn't originally want the role, until some divine intervention convinced him otherwise.

Advert
McConaughey had bizarre interaction with a fortune teller. Credit: Zoonar GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo
McConaughey had bizarre interaction with a fortune teller. Credit: Zoonar GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo

“I remember considering whether I was going to do it or not one night while on a walk down Sunset Boulevard [in the Los Angeles area] when suddenly, this guy comes up out of nowhere to me,” he said.

McConaughey continued that the stranger knew details that he couldn’t possibly have known.

“He immediately goes, ‘There’s a movie you’re considering right now. It’s a romantic comedy. You have to do this or it will be one of the biggest regrets of your life. It is going to be a blast … and it is going to make a bunch of money,’” the Interstellar actor explained.

Advert

Whilst he did consider whether the man had been hired by executive to persuade him, the actor seemingly couldn’t let the moment go.

McConaughey and Kate Hudson in the film. Credit: Paramount Pictures
McConaughey and Kate Hudson in the film. Credit: Paramount Pictures

Thankfully, McConaughey gave the film 'more serious consideration' after that night and went on to accept the role the very next day. Producers even made rewrites to accommodate the actor’s Texan twang and casted Celia Weston, who is from South Carolina, as his mother.

The film would eventually gross $178 million worldwide and sound bites from the film regularly go viral on social media.

Advert

McConaughey credits the film’s success with the fact that audiences are much more aware than Ben.

“It’s really fun as the audience member to be in on the joke with one character while the other one is not,” he said, adding that the film’s plot allows for 'so much fun audience engagement and participation'.

However, Hudson has a different theory and believes it was their on-screen chemistry that created movie magic.

“We had an energy together, I wanted to play with him,” Hudson said. “It felt kinetic. ... We like to push each other,” she said.

Advert

Hudson even fough for McConaughey to get the part, adding that she’d been impressed by his dedication to acting.

She said: “I just love Matthew’s commitment to everything; he’s razor-focused.”

Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Matthew McConaughey

Katherine Sidnell
More like this
Advert
Advert
Advert

Chosen for YouChosen for You

Celebrity

Island Boys accused of ‘incest baiting’ as they tease OnlyFans

28 minutes ago

Most Read StoriesMost Read

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse fans think Gwen might be transgender

3 hours ago