Matthew McConaughey admits 'it was scary' to quit making romantic comedies

• Matthew McConaughey recently looked back on quitting starring in romantic comedies.
• He said when he told his family what he was doing they "thought I was out of my freaking mind."
• "No offers came in for almost a year and a half," he told AARP The Magazine.

Though Matthew McConaughey's decision in the early 2000s to walk away from starring in romantic comedies led to the "McConaissance" and a best actor Oscar win, the 51-year-old admitted that initially it was a "scary" time.

"I was the go-to rom-com guy," he told AARP The Magazine recently. "I enjoyed making them and they paid well."

But the actor said after meeting Camila Alves, whom he would marry in 2012, he wanted to move away from the light-hearted rom-com stories.

"I had more things to get angry about, laugh about, have more joy about and be sad about," he said.

So he decided to quit the genre and revealed that when he told his family what he was doing they "thought I was out of my freaking mind."

"It was scary," McConaughey said. "But Camila said, 'If we're going to do this, we're not going to half-a-- it.'"

But the roles he wanted didn't come right away. And though Hollywood kept sending him rom-com scripts, he passed on them all. McConaughey revealed he even passed on a project where he was offered $14.5 million to be the lead.

"No offers came in for almost a year and a half," he told the magazine. "I was now shaking hands with the fact that I may never work in Hollywood again. It pinched me a little, but I was OK with it. It was time for a new chapter in my life."

But then the McConiassiance began.

With 2009's "Ghosts of Girlfriend's Past" marking his final rom-com, McConaughey wasn't on screen until two years later with "The Lincoln Lawyer." The impressive courtroom drama led to more critical acclaim with movies like "Bernie" and "Killer Joe" in the same year. Then "The Paperboy," "Mud," and "Magic Mike" in 2012.

Still, 2013 was the big year as he scored the lead in "Dallas Buyers Club." Playing AIDS patient Ron Woodroof he earned an Oscar win and instant credibility in Hollywood. Then he solidified it with his Emmy-nominated performance in HBO's first season of "True Detective" a year later.

"I unbranded those two years to then rebrand," McConaughey said of walking away from rom-coms and what it led to. "The dramas came my way and I jumped on them."

Along with considering a political run in Texas for governor, up next McConaughey is starring in "Sing 2," out in December.