Matthew McConaughey blindsided on red carpet with news of Sam Shepard's death

Matthew McConaughey was stunned on a red carpet by news of actor's death. Photo / AP

Matthew McConaughey was giving an interview on a red carpet when he was blindsided with the news of a former co-star's death.

The 47-year-old actor was being interviewed by a reporter from the Associated Press at the premiere of his new movie Dark Tower when he was asked how he felt about the death of Sam Shepard.

"Today, sad day with the passing of Sam Shepard," the reporter said.

"What?" a shocked McConaughey replied, "Sam Shepard moved on?"

The visibly shaken actor put his hand to his head and muttered, "Gosh damnit", before praising 73-year-old Shepard who he starred alongside in the 2012 movie, Mud.

"Look, I'm not going to trivialise that situation, I just heard about it for the first time," McConaughey said.

"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."

Still in disbelief, the actor ended the interview by saying, "He moved on today?"

"We lost one of the great ones. Great writer, great mind. All right, see you in the next one, Sam."

It was revealed yesterday that Shepard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Oscar-nominated actor died last Thursday at his home in Kentucky from complications related to Lou Gehrig's disease.