- 5 months ago
Matthew McConaughey, America Ferrera and director Paul Greengrass showcased their new survival thriller ‘The Lost Bus’ at a Special Screening held at the Curzon Mayfair in London.
As well as speaking about co-starring alongside his family in the film, McConaughey was seen in intense conversation with Crystal Palace F.C. manager Oliver Glasner.
Their new film ‘The Lost Bus’ is inspired by true events, set during the 2018 Camp Fire in California. Directed by Greengrass, the film is described as a white-knuckle ride through one of America’s deadliest wildfires as a wayward school bus driver, played by McConaughey and a dedicated school teacher, played by Ferrera, battle to save 22 children from the terrifying inferno. It’s out on Apple TV+ on 3rd October. Report by Burtonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
As well as speaking about co-starring alongside his family in the film, McConaughey was seen in intense conversation with Crystal Palace F.C. manager Oliver Glasner.
Their new film ‘The Lost Bus’ is inspired by true events, set during the 2018 Camp Fire in California. Directed by Greengrass, the film is described as a white-knuckle ride through one of America’s deadliest wildfires as a wayward school bus driver, played by McConaughey and a dedicated school teacher, played by Ferrera, battle to save 22 children from the terrifying inferno. It’s out on Apple TV+ on 3rd October. Report by Burtonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00We've dialed up this little misty rain and it came.
00:30Welcome to a not rainy London now, isn't it?
00:33Look what happened.
00:34Look what happened.
00:35Hey, this is a very interesting project for you.
00:37I know because you have your son and your mother on set with you.
00:39Yeah.
00:40In the same way to see them at work, were you happy to see Dad at work?
00:43They get to see Dad at work.
00:44Were you proud to showcase yourself?
00:45Well, they've seen Dad at work.
00:47Like Levi and the kids have been on almost all the sets I've worked on.
00:51And we put them to work.
00:53They take jobs on the set.
00:54Like Levi worked in the camera department for two months before he stepped in front of the camera and took the role.
00:59In this film.
01:01So they've seen me work.
01:03But we've never worked in a scene together.
01:06You know, to see, I worked with Levi on that scene for weeks.
01:11And then I told him, I said, look, the day we go to work, he's yours.
01:16The character's yours.
01:17I'm not going to be there as a safety net.
01:19I'm not going to be there as a thumbs up or thumbs down.
01:22Go in and own the choices you made.
01:25And it was a proud moment as a dad to show up at work that day.
01:28And him not even looking over his shoulder at me for any approval.
01:32Like just him working with Paul and him owning his man.
01:35And that was a proud moment for me to see him take that ownership.
01:39There's two moments in this film, two different characters say, we need to do things not by the book anymore.
01:43I feel like that describes Matthew McConaughey as a human as well.
01:46You're not going to do things by the book when the time allows for it.
01:48Do you think that's a fair thing?
01:50Well, I'm more and I don't mean this as a political term.
01:53I mean it as a sort of choice making paradigm.
01:56I'm more conservative early liberal late.
01:58I do like to check out the book first.
02:01What are the rules of engagement?
02:02How's this game supposed to be played?
02:04All right.
02:05If I'm going to do somersaults naked in this sandbox, let me check it all out and see if there's any broken glass.
02:10If I'm going to jump in the pool, let's check and see if there's water in it first.
02:12Let's go by the book and check out the rules and regulations.
02:15All right.
02:16What the consequence could be.
02:17After that, you've created your own weather.
02:20I've studied the script or have an idea of what I want out of a relationship or whatever that is.
02:26Then throw the book away.
02:29Now go off book.
02:31Now call audibles.
02:32Now play.
02:35And that's the fun part.
02:37The work is the preparation when you study the playbook of whatever it is you're doing.
02:41But the play is once you're in the game.
02:43You don't want to be thinking about the playbook when you're in the game.
02:45So that's probably where I think you're talking about.
02:48Maybe you've seen me improvise or do things my own way.
02:52It's based off of certain values that I've already studied and prepared for.
02:57It's a pleasure to talk to you.
02:58Thank you so much.
02:59Appreciate it. Enjoy today.
03:01Well that's all, thank you so much.
03:07Trentali
03:10Great.
03:11and you give life lessons and one of the
03:40them is about the size of a bed. Oh, yeah. Can you tell me a bit more about that? Oh, that's a, it's a, it's a bit of a limerick joke. I said, yeah, one way to, one way to help your marriage out is get a, is move down to a queen-size bed. So, it's a, it's a bit of a poem, a rhyming, a little joke about best thing you can do for your marriage is get off, get rid of that king-size mattress and get yourself a queen-size bed. One last question. Does the trailer still exist in Texas? My trailer?
04:10Oh, yeah. You still live in there sometimes? Well, I have, I have three trailers, yeah.
04:15I believe it's definitely a character that you came across this as a book first. Yep.
04:18The important story, true story to tell in general, particularly right now, considering it does feel like a full-on training. Why did you think it's important to tell the story?
04:27Really gave me an incredible... I thought it would be an entertaining story, even if it wasn't based on truth.
04:32And then to know that it was based on truth gave me a little more resonance, a little more reverence and purpose for reason to dive in and tell it.
04:39Um, the father-son story, the second chances aspect of the story, the idea we've all felt like we're too late or something's too late to handle or help out or amend.
04:52And when do we get those second chances? How often do we just pump them down the road over and over and over thinking that they'll always be there?
05:00And then that window closes and that opportunity's not there.
05:03And the idea that when you do get a second chance, take that opportunity right then.
05:07Um, then the idea of, uh, on a human level, you know, you, we, we have another gear that we kick into when we're on death's door that we don't give ourselves credit for.
05:20And sometimes you've got to drive through hell and right down the throat of the dragon to get, to get out of it.
05:26It's not a passive kumbaya, sit on the sidelines, let's hope this storm passes.
05:31Sometimes it is, but a lot of times it's like, I'm going to go right down the eye of the storm to get through it.
05:35And having your son and mother on set as well.
05:38I mean, I know you didn't let your son just get the role too easily, but it must have been magical to be on set now.
05:43It was, and it'll be more magical as time goes by.
05:46Sorry, guys.
05:46Yeah.
05:46We have our show.
05:50I don't think that entertainment viewers ever care about because of how it's the waterless.
06:05I've been looking at the America timeline over the last, uh, last two years.
06:22And I think that probably when you started to film this, it was probably just post Barbie awardees and stuff.
06:27Yes.
06:28How was it going from that straight into this?
06:30Was it an adjustment period?
06:32No, it was, it was, it was really shortly after the Barbie campaign ended.
06:38Um, but it was also, you know, really nice to jump into something creatively, uh, and, and, uh, you know, shake it up.
06:47But, uh, uh, uh, getting a movie out in the world is fun, but it's not the same as like getting to do your work and making a movie.
06:56So, so it was really, um, fun to get to just jump into another great creative process.
07:03Um, your character within this has, uh, at one point, you know, in charge of the morale of all these kids who were terrified on the bus.
07:08But when it comes to these long days on set and Paul was telling me about the bus that you were on, it was hot and it was sweaty in there.
07:13Were you in charge of morale for all the young actors?
07:15You know, I mean, I thought the kids were amazing.
07:19They were super professional.
07:20I, I know that they were definitely like looking to me and to Matthew for cues in terms of like, you know, professionalism and how do you behave on a set?
07:32And also, you know, a lot of the scenes were quite intense.
07:34And so, you know, just them watching us stay in character and stay in, you know, in, in quiet and kind of respects that people are working.
07:44And, you know, they were fantastic.
07:46And I don't think any of them were newbies.
07:48These were all kids with like resumes and many credits to their names.
07:51So they were pros, which was nice.
07:54Um, how do you find the experience of working with Matthew next to you?
07:56Uh, just saw you idling up, saddling up to next to you.
07:58Yeah.
07:58Do you look all right?
07:59Look happy and friends still?
08:00Yeah, Matthew's great.
08:02I mean, I didn't know Matthew at all before we started working together.
08:06And I just, I really appreciated how, um, how focused and professional and how committed to the work he is.
08:15And, um, and, you know, we really just kind of jumped into the work.
08:19It wasn't much of like, you know, they're Mary and Kevin are strangers when they meet each other on, on, in the film and on the journey.
08:26And, and for all they know, they're going to spend 10 minutes together and it's going to be like, I'll never see you again.
08:32You know, so, so we actually didn't have to do that.
08:35Like, oh, let's have dinner and hang out and get to know each other before set.
08:39Because actually it really worked in our favor to get to know each other on camera actually.
08:45And, and find our way towards more intimacy the way that Kevin and Mary find themselves more like, okay, we've been through something, you know?
08:54And it did certainly feel that way, uh, as the weeks went on, uh, that we were going through something together.
09:01And that, that really formed the bond and, and, and, you know, what, what, what you see on screen.
09:08And since then we've gotten to spend more kind of offset time together and it's been a blast and he's great.
09:14And working with Paul was amazing and it was a really great experience.
09:18Oh, here you go.
09:32How you doing?
09:32I'm good.
09:33How are you, mate?
09:33Thank you so much for your time.
09:34I appreciate your congratulations on this film.
09:36Um, I imagine you must be LA based now as a British.
09:39I know, no, no, no, no, no, I live here.
09:41Well, very fascinating.
09:41Definitely.
09:42But this very, you know, we never would ever leave.
09:44Well, we always, always look across the pond.
09:46I'm glad you're going to say it forever.
09:47Definitely.
09:47Uh, we look across the pond and we see these stories of wildfires in LA and it seems a million miles away to us.
09:52But within the lost bus, are you hoping to like show that, to make it more relatable through the human elements with Matthew and America's characters in this?
09:59Is that kind of the goal to bring this home to UK audiences in a way?
10:02I would say that I would say in the last five years, these huge, uncontrolled, vast wildfires have sort of entered our consciousness.
10:14And I think our consciousness is everywhere because you get them in Europe.
10:18I mean, just this summer, believable fire, biggest fires for a hundred years in France, in Italy, in Greece, South America, North America, the Far East.
10:28I mean, you know, it's part of our world today, you know, it's burning.
10:32And, uh, but what you need is a simple human story that you can tell.
10:38And this simple story about a, a bus driver down on his luck and a school teacher who decide they have to save these 22 kids, even though they, their own children are stuck there somewhere.
10:51But it's such a story of everyday simple heroism for me.
10:55I just thought it was a, it had, it had a sort of, you could see the movie just in the idea of it, really.
11:03I don't know what stage of pre-production or even during production you must have been at when, you know, just recently we had more wildfires in LA as well.
11:10We were literally about two.
11:11Did it change anything for you in terms of production?
11:13It didn't change anything.
11:14I mean, it was about two weeks from the end.
11:16We were mixing the sound and, uh, suddenly there it was.
11:22I mean, a couple of people who worked on the film lost their houses.
11:26Uh, Billy Goldberg, our editor, he had to go home because he nearly, he very nearly did lose his home.
11:31He didn't quite, but he had to rush home.
11:33Um, I mean, it was, it was eerie and disturbing and a reminder that, you know, this happens in a real world.
11:43It's not just a make-believe movie.
11:45I just wanted two more questions.
11:45Can I just ask you to move a little bit this way so we can't even, it's okay.
11:48You're all right.
11:48Sorry about that.
11:49That's all right.
11:50Thank you for that.
11:50You got it.
11:50You got it.
11:51You're not getting my best side.
11:53Um, when you're telling a story with the, you know, real people at the heart of it, at a point you show them the finished product,
12:00have you seen the reaction of the people in the community of Kevin and Mayor?
12:03It's been fantastic.
12:04Yeah.
12:04Kevin and Mary have seen it and the community of paradise has seen it and the community of firefighters has seen it.
12:13And the reaction has been actually incredible, incredibly moving and incredibly supportive.
12:19And in the end, that means the world, you know, because you do have a responsibility in these stories to, to reflect the truth, you know, and, uh, you never know when you make these films, you never know.
12:31But because you're dealing with people's real experiences and their real lives.
12:34And, uh, uh, but, you know, they, they were incredibly supportive.
12:40And finally for me as well, um, at the core of the story is the two people on the poster to your rights down there, America and Matthew, how do you define them as collaborators?
12:48Was it your first time working with Matthew?
12:50What was your experience?
12:50First time with both of them.
12:51They were absolutely fantastic.
12:53They were so generous and giving and we were a happy band.
13:00We were a happy family actually, you know, and it's not easy.
13:04You're shooting in a bus with a lot of small children and, uh, it was just amazing.
13:10Just amazing.
13:11What did you find to be the most challenging aspect of the shoot?
13:13Cause I imagine it's sound stages, it's enclosed environments and everything.
13:16What did you find to be challenging during the shoots?
13:18Well, you're in a compressed space, you know, for, for, for 10 hours a day, you can't move.
13:25It's like this.
13:26The seats are very high.
13:28Uh, it's hot and dusty.
13:32And, uh, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's difficult.
13:38And also I didn't want to, uh, you know, often in movies you sort of create a fake bus.
13:45I just wanted a real school bus with the restrictions of space that, that you've got and just take
13:50it from there, but it worked, it worked, but it wouldn't have worked without America and
13:54Matthew being so unbelievably giving and generous in their time.
13:59And, you know, they didn't ever complain or want to get off the bus.
14:03And Matthew drove the bus the whole time, the whole time.
14:06And America drove it too, she learned to, she learned to drive the bus too.
14:12It was fantastic.
14:13I got to let you go.
14:14Thanks so much for your time.
14:14I appreciate you.
14:15Enjoy tonight.
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