A 23 year-old film major at the University of Texas and his girlfriend went to a bar at a Hyatt Hotel for drinks. While there, the bartender pointed out that one of the patrons at the bar was Don Phillips, who had cast Sean Penn in his breakthrough role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
The young man approached Phillips and the two quickly hit it off. When the two went to Phillips’s hotel room, Phillips asked the young man if he would be interested in playing the role of a character in an upcoming film he was casting for.
When the young man auditioned, the film’s director didn’t think that the handsome and well-mannered 23 year-old would be suited to play the role of the person Phillips had in mind for him in the upcoming film, as the character was written to be a socially awkward and slightly creepy individual who had an eye for girls years his junior, quite the antithesis of the personality that the real-life young man displayed. But the actor’s persona transformed instantly when he got into character, and the director knew that he would be perfect for the role.
The young man’s name was Matthew McConaughey, and his role as David Wooderson in Dazed and Confused turned him from having bit parts like his acting debut on Unsolved Mysteries to overnight superstardom.
Indeed, a chance encounter with a casting director made Matthew McConaughey a superstar.