McConaughey explained in his appearance on the Diary of a CEO podcast that during the peak of his romantic-comedy stardom, he felt a deep need for a new challenge. Despite his financial success, he found roles were no longer fulfilling; he wanted to pursue dramas, but Hollywood wasn’t offering them. “If I can’t do what I want to do, I’m going to quit doing what I’ve been doing,” he recalled thinking.

After making a pact with his wife, Camila Alves, to step away from his established genre, he began a self-imposed exile from Hollywood. The industry tested his resolve almost immediately. An offer for an action-comedy came in at $8 million, which he rejected. The studio came back with $10 million, then $12 million, and finally a massive $14.5 million offer. McConaughey admitted he reread the script at that price, noting, “It was better written. It was funnier,” but ultimately he held firm and said no. He said he remembered thinking, “I just bought myself a one-way ticket out of Hollywood.”

He believes that bold refusal sent a powerful message through the industry. “I think me doing that sent the message … ‘Oh, McConaughey is not bluffing … He’s not for rent,'” he stated. Approximately 20 months later, his strategy paid off as a string of critically acclaimed dramatic roles—including The Lincoln Lawyer, Mud, and his Oscar-winning turn in Dallas Buyers Club—began to pour in. He is convinced those opportunities would have never materialized had he not stepped away.

The crisis of the Gen Z young man

This need for resistance in his own life, he argues, is directly connected to a broader societal issue, particularly affecting young men, as a wide range of thinkers and even best-selling books have diagnosed a crisis among American males. In a culture that heavily promotes independence, McConaughey identifies a fundamental human need that is being ignored. “We [young men] want and need to be relied on. We want and need to be depended on,” he asserted.

He contrasted this with the “sheer independent individual lifestyle with nothing that you’re responsible for outside of what you only need,” which he believes can lead to an existential void. The actor pointed out that many of the most fulfilled people have significant dependence in their lives through family and community. This lack of responsibility and reliance, he suggests, is a key driver of the loneliness and lack of meaning reported by many young men today.

Gen Z men are experiencing a distinct early-career crunch marked by higher unemployment than their female peers, weak entry-level pipelines, and a fading wage premium for college degrees, according to recent Fortune reporting. The squeeze is driven by a mix of AI-driven entry-level consolidation, degree glut dynamics, and a shift in fast-growing roles toward sectors where women are overrepresented, such as healthcare. The data doesn’t lie: the unemployment rate is diverging for young men and young women. Even Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said it’s hard out there for Gen Z: “Kids coming out of college…are having a hard time finding jobs,” he told reporters last week as his regular press conference.

McConaughey argues that modern life increasingly allows people to opt out of challenges, leading to what some call a “comfort crisis.” The solution, in his view, is not just any challenge but an “immortal” one, such as faith in a higher power or a commitment to one’s own character and relationships. He explained, in characteristically rambling fashion, that things “not measured and paid for with a local mortal currency” are important, such as a pursuit of some kind or a qualitative, valuable experience that gives life more meaning than the other things that don’t offer a much fulfillment. These pursuits provide the necessary “resistance” to give life form and meaning. “You got to have some resistance to have some form,” he explained. “You got to push off of something to go somewhere.”

This philosophy is rooted in his upbringing, where values of resilience, hard work, and gratitude were forefront. It was this foundation that gave him the courage to make drastic career changes and to follow his father’s advice of fully pursuing your dreams.

For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.