Matthew McConaughey loves to work

Matthew McConaughey can’t stop working.

The ‘Gold’ star decided to rebrand himself as an actor and step away from his romantic comedy roots, making the tough decision to turn down any scripts which would further pigeon hole him into that type of role.

He said: "So the anxiety was, well, how long is nothing going to come in? Having a family helps, but I feel like I always need to be accomplishing something, for my own happiness and significance. I gotta work.

"The anxiety was in how long will it be dry, how long will we get nothing? My agent did a good job saying no, no, no. Then the studios got the message and quit sending them. Then there was an impasse of nothing. And there was nothing for about eight months."

And the 47-year-old actor admits it was hard to give up at first because of the money he was being offered.

He added: "The ceiling and the basement of your emotions – how much pain can I feel, how happy can I be, how loud can I laugh? – that’s designed to be a very thin wavelength, much closer together … That same script, same words, with a $5 million offer, is so much better written than the one with the $1 million offer."

Meanwhile, Matthew also admitted he prefers dramas as he is able to explore "what a character would humanly do".

He told The Guardian newspaper: "They are thin, by design. You come in on a cloud and you skip from cloud to cloud, and if you drop anchor in a romantic comedy, you will sink the ship. If it’s a scene where boy meets girl and I get really mad for a second, uh-uh, cut. ‘You can’t get mad because we won’t believe you can make it back.’ That’s how it goes.

"No, no, no. What’s easier about a drama is that: with every question, you can hang your hat on what would this character humanly do? You’re looking for reality all the time. You don’t go pining for reality in a romcom. You’re supposed to stay up there and bounce."