Everyone loves a good comeback. The most recent example would be Robert Downey Jr who went from a Lindsey Lohan level of downfall to become one of the top paid actors in the world. Matthew McConaughey had the potential to be a top level star and after a string of bad romantic comedies and films like SAHARA, he all but disappeared into obscurity. It would have been easy for him to keep cashing paychecks but he made a conscious decision to change his career path.
That change seems to have been triggered in 2008 when, according to The Hollywood Reporter, McConaughey was offered $15 million (and 15% of the back end) to star in MAGNUM, P.I. for Universal. The remake of the Tom Selleck television series would have surely been a hit if surrounded with the right script, cast, and director, but it never made it to theaters. McConaughey is instead the talk of Hollywood with his recent turns in KILLER JOE, BERNIE, MUD, and his physical transformation for DALLAS BUYERS CLUB for which he was paid around $200,000. Now, McConaughey is starring in Christopher Nolan‘s INTERSTELLAR, a film that will certainly propel him to the top of many director’s lists for future movies.
It seems that we don’t get actors too often willing to make these types of choices and I see comments all the time that some take awful projects just for the money. If we had more actors like Matthew McConaughey, maybe we would have better movies out there.