Matthew McConaughey holds back tears as he learns of Sam Shepard's death in red carpet interview

Fiona Simpson2 August 2017
The Weekender

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Matthew McConaughey held back tears after being told during an interview on the red carpet that playwright and actor Sam Shepard had died.

The 47-year-old was being interviewed at the premiere of new movie Dark Tower when a reporter from the Associated Press asked how he felt about his former co-star's death.

McConaughey looked visibly shaken as he replied: “Sam Shepard moved on?”

The actor, who starred alongside Shepard in 2012 movie Mud, held back tears as he paid tribute to the 73-year-old who died following complications with ALS last Thursday.

Acclaimed playwright: Sam Shepard died last Thursday
Larry Busacca/Getty Images

He said: “Look, I’m not going to trivialise that situation, I just heard about it for the first time.

“But I always told [director] Jeff Nichols this, look in Mud, the whole trailer for Mud could be Sam Shepard sitting in that green chair telling the boy about who Mud is. It would be about a two-and-a-half minute trailer, but it would have been really badass.”

In a final show of emotion McConaughey put two thumbs up before pointing to the sky and said: “We lost one of the great ones. Great writer, great mind. All right, see you in the next one, Sam.”

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