how to cast a guy in one day

Had Matthew McConaughey not bumped into a fortune teller on the streets of Los Angeles, he may never have said “alright alright alright” and starred in one of his biggest films. 

The actor has revealed he accepted an offer for his role in 2003’s How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days after receiving advice from a fortune teller who approached him on Sunset Boulevard. 

McConaughey dropped the revelation in a Vanity Fair oral history of the romantic comedy, which paired him with Kate Hudson. According to the actor, he was considering whether to star in the movie while walking down the street one night, “when suddenly, this guy comes up out of nowhere to me,” a “fortune teller guru,” who asked to tell him his fortune.

“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, it is going to be an incredible experience and it is going to make a bunch of money,'” McConaughey recalled.

The actor joked he remembers thinking, “Did the studio hire this guy?” But the fortune teller’s advice led him to take “a more serious consideration” of the offer, and he accepted it the very next day. 

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days went on to become one of the most successful films of McConaughey’s career, grossing over $170 million at the box office — and somewhere out there, there’s a fortune teller still bitter over not getting a producing credit.