Matthew McConaughey pulled off his iconic Interstellar crying scene in one take

We all know Matthew McConaughey is a master of his craft, but you'll get a new found appreciation for his acting skills after hearing this Interstellar anecdote.

The Texas-born star has long been hailed for his show-stopping performance in the hit Christopher Nolan film, where he starred as former NASA pilot Joseph Cooper.

The 2014 sci-fi flick - starring the likes of Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, and Michael Caine - follows McConaughey's character's journey through a wormhole.

Set in a dystopian future where Earth is uninhabitable, he is forced to pilot a spacecraft while heading off on a desperate mission to find a new planet for humans to live on.

Cooper and a team of researchers visit a string of potential new homes in outer space - while his two children Tom and Murphy are stuck at home.

His offspring age at a much different rate to the ex-NASA pilot, as they are experiencing time at a whole different rate.

During one especially tear-jerking scene in Interstellar, Cooper sits down to watch videos of his children which show him just how much he has missed while he's been away.

He watches his kids both grow up into adults in the footage, although they both never lose hope of their father coming back for them, like he promised.

McConaughey's character is overcome with emotion during the poignant scene - and although you might think it took him a few takes to perfect his expert sobbing, you'd be dead wrong.

The Dallas Buyers Club actor, 55, revealed that it was the first take that made it into the final cut, as it captured his raw reaction.

In a previous interview, McConaughey explained that even though it was first thing on 'a Monday morning', he smashed it out of the park in the 'first shot'.

McConaughey perfected the emotional scene during the first take (Paramount Pictures)

"It's not a scene about knowing the dialogue, it's not about saying the right words," he explained. "It's about reacting. I got to go into that and just say, 'Relax, get ready to receive'."

McConaughey said that he made sure he was 'in his own zone' while he walked on set, explaining he didn't even 'look anybody else in the eye'.

He recalled how director Nolan began to explain where the cameras had been positioned to capture the moving moment, before suggesting that they 'rehearsed' it.

The actor continued: "And I just look up and I go, 'Uh-uh, we ain't rehearsing. Live, roll'."

He reckons that 'everything after take one is acting' - whereas the first take captured was him reacting with his real emotion, as he had never seen the footage of 'his kids' before.

He starred as former NASA pilot Joseph Cooper in the 2014 flick (Paramount Pictures)

"Take one is where you really are reacting," McConaughey explained. "So I wanted to see that tape of the footage for the first time, [and] not have any anticipation of what's going to come next or what they're going to say next.

"I wanted to just receive it and then let happen what happens. I'm not trying to do anything in that scene.

"After you do one take - and take two and take three were okay - but we're like, take one - that's it."

He pointed out that in the following takes, he 'knew what was coming'.

McConaughey said: "Then you start to anticipate it a little bit, get ahead of yourself and go, 'Oh this is when they're about to say that thing which really got me last time'.

"We are already out of the moment."

I think Interstellar fans can all agree that McConaughey's master plan paid off, as that scene certainly comes across like it was very much in the moment.