Matthew McConaughey says ‘The Wedding Planner’ got him through border stop
McConaughey says a late-night border stop ended with photos after he mentioned his Jennifer Lopez rom-com.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
2 min read
Matthew McConaughey says his role in The Wedding Planner helped turn a tense late-night border stop into a photo opportunity. In an anecdote reported by Variety, McConaughey said he mentioned the 2001 Jennifer Lopez rom-com after he was pulled over while crossing the border and heading farther south.
The actor told the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he had expected trouble after being stopped in his truck. He did not identify the crossing, say when the encounter happened, explain why he was stopped or identify the officials involved.
What did Matthew McConaughey say about ‘The Wedding Planner’ at the border?
McConaughey said he asked the people who had stopped him whether they knew Lopez or had seen The Wedding Planner, then told them he was in it. According to his account, they recognized him, took pictures with him and allowed him to continue.
“They let me go,” McConaughey said, according to Variety.
His story is a first-person recollection, rather than an independently verified account of what officers intended to do. McConaughey described bracing for a difficult situation, but the account does not establish that a search had begun or was about to take place.
A rom-com that launched a run
The Wedding Planner, starring McConaughey and Lopez, arrived in 2001. Variety called it McConaughey’s first romantic-comedy success and reported that it earned $94 million worldwide.
The film was followed by a string of rom-com roles for McConaughey, including How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Failure to Launch, Fool’s Gold and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.
On the podcast, McConaughey said How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days was probably his favorite rom-com and said it remained his strongest source of residual payments. Variety also reported that he later stepped away from rom-coms and Hollywood for a time as he sought dramatic work.
For this particular border-stop memory, though, McConaughey credited a much earlier role: a quick reference to Lopez and The Wedding Planner, followed by photographs and a release, according to his telling.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.