Matthew McConaughey has an Oscar, decades of major movies and one of Hollywood’s most recognizable filmographies, but the movie that keeps sending him his best residual checks is a romantic comedy from 2003.
The actor revealed that How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, his hit with Kate Hudson, still delivers the strongest “mailbox money” of any film he has made. Speaking with Josh Horowitz on Happy Sad Confused, McConaughey called the movie “the gift that keeps on giving.”
He did not reveal how much those residual payments are worth, but he left little ambiguity about how the movie compares with the rest of his career. “It still pays the best mailbox money of any film I’ve ever done,” McConaughey said. “By far. By lengths.”
The admission came as McConaughey looked back across his filmography and weighed How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days against other memorable projects, including The Wolf of Wall Street. He also called the Kate Hudson movie probably his favorite romantic comedy he has made and described it as an enduring “anchor” of the genre.
Valentine’s Day Used to Deliver a March Payday
McConaughey remembered a particularly reliable pattern from the years when DVDs and cable television played a larger role in the movie’s afterlife. “When it used to be just DVDs or cable, every March I’d get a big check because Valentine’s Day,” he told Horowitz.
The seasonal viewing habit apparently became predictable enough for McConaughey to notice it in his residual payments. Horowitz suggested that the film was probably still a fixture on airline entertainment systems. McConaughey immediately offered another place where he imagined the romantic comedy continuing to play: “Sorority houses.”
More than two decades after its theatrical release, McConaughey sees the movie as having established a lasting place within the genre. “The movie for me, for that genre, let me just own that genre,” he said. “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days … that’s a real anchor in the rom-com genre through time.”
McConaughey Calls It His Favorite Rom-Com
The money is not the only reason How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days still stands out in McConaughey’s career. “I think it’s probably my favorite rom-com I’ve done,” he told Horowitz, adding that audiences continue to love the movie.
The 2003 film paired McConaughey’s advertising executive Ben Barry with Hudson’s magazine writer Andie Anderson. Andie is secretly trying to drive a man away within 10 days for an article, while Ben has made a bet that he can make a woman fall in love with him in the same amount of time.
Neither knows about the other’s plan, turning their relationship into competing schemes before genuine feelings complicate both. McConaughey went on to become one of the defining romantic-comedy leads of the era, with movies including The Wedding Planner, Failure to Launch, Fool’s Gold and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.
McConaughey Still Credits His Chemistry With Kate Hudson
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McConaughey has previously credited the film’s staying power in part to how naturally he and Hudson worked together. In a 2024 PEOPLE interview, he recalled meeting Hudson during the casting process and immediately recognizing that they had the kind of chemistry a romantic comedy needed.
“Immediately, we were comfortable with each other,” McConaughey said. “We challenged each other, we busted each other’s chops and we laughed a lot,” he recalled. “And there was a bit of rock and roll exchange that we thought, ‘Oh, this could be some heavyweight fun.'”
McConaughey said that immediate dynamic helped him land the role and contributed to why the pairing ultimately worked onscreen.
Hudson has described their connection in similar terms. She has said the two share a comparable energy, competitiveness and willingness to be flirtatious onscreen, helping them create convincing romantic chemistry. The pair worked together again five years later in the 2008 adventure-romance Fool’s Gold.
A Sequel Has Been Discussed but Never Announced
During a 2024 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Hudson said she and McConaughey were both “totally open” to making a sequel under the right circumstances. “I think they’re always thinking about that,” Hudson said when asked about a follow-up. “All that matters would be the script and if Matthew and I would be into the script.”
She made clear that the quality of the idea would be the deciding factor. McConaughey has also previously entertained the possibility, saying the ending and central relationship leave room to imagine what might have happened to Andie and Ben later in life. No sequel has been officially announced.