Matthew McConaughey has revealed that his decision to move from Hollywood to a Texas ranch was motivated by a need to escape being the "rom-com dude."
The actor spoke about his life and career during an appearance on the "Good Trouble" podcast, recalling how he had to learn about the importance of how to say no.
"'No' is just as important, if not more important. Especially if you have some level of success and access. 'No' becomes more important than 'yes,'" he said, according to CNN. "We all look around and see we've overleveraged our life with yeses and gone, geez, oh, man, I'm making C-minuses and all that [expletive] in my life because I said yes to too many things."
McConaughey rose to prominence with leading roles in a string of romantic comedies including "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," "Fool's Gold," and "The Wedding Planner." Despite his success, McConaughey said he realized he was on "auto-pilot" and something had to change.
"I was the rom-com dude, man; that was my lane, and I liked that lane. That lane paid well, and it was working," he said. "I was so strong in that lane that anything outside of that lane — dramas and stuff that I wanted to do — were like, no, no, no, no, no McConaughey. Hollywood said no, no, no, no, you should stay there, stay there."
He continued, "Since I couldn't do what I wanted to do, I stopped doing what I was doing."
"I moved down to the ranch in Texas," McConaughey said. "I went down there, and I made a pact with my wife [model and actress Camila Alves McConaughey] and said, 'I'm not going back to work unless I get offered roles I want to do.'"
McConaughey previously opened up about taking a two-year break from Hollywood after finding it difficult to find work outside of the rom-com genre.
"I've usually zigged when I felt like Hollywood wanted me to zag," he told Interview Magazine. "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.”
Looking back, McConaughey admitted it was a "scary" decision to make.
"I had long talks with my wife about needing to find a new vocation," he continued, remembering saying, "I think 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."
McConaughey shared that he wrestled with a "sense of insignificance" as he pursued his new path.
"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," he added. "But it was scary, because I didn't know if I was ever going to get out of the desert."
His fears turned out to be unfounded, though. Returning to Hollywood, McConaughey landed roles in more dramatic films like "Mud," "Magic Mike," "Interstellar," and "Dallas Buyers Club," which earned him an Oscar for best actor.