Matthew McConaughey wanted to play the Hulk, but Disney/Marvel politely turned him down. Ah, how things might have been different…
Matthew McConaughey is famous for being the most laid back of actors, the “all right, all right, all right” guy. So it might not strike you that he’d be a good fit for the Hulk, a character famous for getting angry and turning into a giant green rage monster. But that’s nonetheless what he wanted at one point, as he revealed during a visit to the Happy Sad Confused podcast to discuss his new book Greenlights. Apparently he was a big fan of the Incredible Hulk TV series from the ’70s.
The conversation is about as laconic as it could possibly be:
"Podcast host Josh Horowitz: “You never got your chance to play Bruce Banner, or David Banner in the show, did you?”McConaughey: “No, I didn’t.”Horowitz: “Jerks.”McConaughey: “Wanted it.”Horowitz: “Really?”McConaughey: “Yep.”Horowitz: “Did you throw your hat in the ring? Did you say, ‘I’m game if you guys are?'”McConaughey: “Yep.”Horowitz: “No kidding?”McConaughey: “They said, ‘No, thank you.'”"
It almost seems like McConaughey is being a little short here, and /Film assures us that the bulk of the interview friendly and engaging. Maybe he’s still a little sore that he didn’t get the part?
The interview doesn’t make clear at what point McConaughey asked Marvel if he could play the character. Was it way way back, before Eric Bana played him in the 2003 Hulk movie, before the birth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Was it before Disney cast Edward Norton’s in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk? Before Disney recast the role with Mark Ruffalo for 2012’s The Avengers?
Whenever he asked, he was turned down, and Ruffalo has since made the character his own to the point where it’s hard to picture anyone else playing him. Still, we wonder at how things might have been different if…I mean, would Bruce Banner ever transform if he were played Matthew McConaughey? I wonder if he’d ever get angry enough.
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