Can you imagine Matthew McConaughey playing Jack Dawson in the 1997 hit movie Titanic? Well, that almost happened — except after the hunky How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days actor auditioned for the role, he was ultimately beat out by Leonardo DiCaprio!

“I went and auditioned. I wanted that,” Matthew, 49, admitted on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter Podcast on Nov. 3. “I auditioned with Kate Winslet, had a good audition, walked away from there pretty confident that I had it. I didn’t get it. I never got offered that.”

Matthew-mcconaughey-leo-dicaprio
Getty Images

Matthew was so certain about his audition that he still hopes the reason he didn’t get cast is that his agent never got back to him. “And as I’ve said before not even half-jokingly if it’s true if that was an offer and it didn’t come to me, I’ve got to go back and go, ‘I’ve got to meet in an alley with that agent.'”

As if hearing this casting revelation from Matthew himself wasn’t mind-boggling enough, Kate, 43, also confirmed to Stephen Colbert last December that the Dazed and Confused actor auditioned to be her love interest in the blockbuster. “I auditioned with Matthew, isn’t that weird?” Kate admitted on The Late Show. “Never said that in public before. I auditioned with Matthew, which was completely fantastic. It just wouldn’t have been the whole ‘Jack and Rose, Kate and Leo’ thing.”

Matthew-mcconaughey-leo-dicaprio.jpg
Getty Images

It seems as though Matthew bears no hard feelings towards Leo (and vice-versa) considering the two have beaten each other out for multiple acting projects during their careers. In fact, Leo, 43, and Matthew actually became good friends after working together in 2013’s Wolf of Wall Street.

One year later in 2014, Matthew took home the Best Actor Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club. Even though Leo was nominated in that same category, he pulled his fellow actor in for a congratulatory hug and a friendly kiss-on-the-cheek after his big win during the award show. We imagine Matthew would’ve done the same for Leo!