00:00I'm so excited to talk about The Lost Bus.
00:02The Lost Bus being based on the true story of Kevin McKay and Mary Ludwig.
00:07Were you familiar with the story before you became involved with the project?
00:11I had known about the Camp Fire Fire in 2018.
00:15I did not know Kevin and Mary and Ruby and Captain Martinez's stories,
00:21but I read the Lizzie Johnson book, which is an incredible story.
00:27And then that story of the bus itself is in the book,
00:32but it was then pulled out for a long-form article, and I read that as well.
00:38So I had the general gist of it, and I remembered the fire happening
00:43and sort of the terrible cost of that fire.
00:47But I didn't know that very human story until I got involved.
00:53And with the film being based on this true story,
00:55did you feel any kind of added pressure to really get things right
00:58and do justice to it on screen?
01:00Yes and no.
01:01Paul Greengrass, who is our intrepid director,
01:04released me of some of that responsibility
01:09in terms of the real woman that I play, Ruby Hartwig.
01:14He said,
01:15that this is not a Ruby imitation,
01:17that you should feel free to develop your own version of this character.
01:22We are making a movie.
01:24There are aspects of the story that have been sort of shifted.
01:31It's great because Kevin McKay is a really,
01:33the real Kevin McKay is a really lovely person,
01:37and the real Ruby is a really lovely person.
01:41And at the beginning of the film,
01:44Matthew McConaughey and I, who play them respectively,
01:47have a little bit of tension.
01:50He's not maybe the best employee in our iteration of it.
01:54And Kevin was very much like,
01:55well, Ruby and I are friends.
01:57Like, we're legitimately friends,
01:58and you guys don't seem to get along.
02:00And Paul just said to him,
02:01yeah, if the good guy does the good thing,
02:05that's not really a movie.
02:08You know?
02:08So, but we also did feel a real responsibility
02:13to get the action of the fire
02:17and the loss of life,
02:21the incredible risk,
02:23and the heroism of that day and beyond right.
02:29What was it about the project
02:30and about the role of Ruby that initially drew you in?
02:34I mean, the story is terrifying.
02:37It really brought home to me that
02:40things happen in our lives and we don't plan for them.
02:44And I think sometimes I and people in general
02:49get caught up in this idea of like,
02:51oh, well, if I get all my stuff sorted
02:53and all of my life is together,
02:56then I can go be a hero
02:57and then I can go help other people.
02:59And there's, that time never comes.
03:02There's never the right time for something like this.
03:05It's just, the call comes
03:07and you're either there to answer or you're not.
03:11And these were people that were right in the middle
03:14of their lives.
03:15This horrific, catastrophic situation happens
03:18and they stepped up
03:20and they saved a lot of lives.
03:21What were kind of the conversations you had
03:24while developing the character of Ruby?
03:25The way we made this movie was so cool.
03:29So we shot in Santa Fe for Northern California
03:32and part of that was because they wanted to do
03:35certain controlled fires.
03:38So they built a trailer park in elementary school
03:41so that they could actually do very safe footage fires
03:46and then put actors in them.
03:49I mean, it was really intense.
03:52Paul made so much information available to me.
03:56They had done interviews with Ruby,
03:57so I got to see those.
03:59And I'm so very used to,
04:01you go in and you set up for a scene
04:03and you do the scene and then you're done
04:04and then you move on to the next scene
04:06and you're like, okay.
04:07And I walked in and I was like,
04:08yeah, how do we eat an elephant?
04:10We eat an elephant one bite at a time, right?
04:12No, Paul eats the whole elephant at once.
04:14We just did it as a play
04:16and in between the scenes,
04:18we were allowed to live in this intricate bus depot space,
04:26like transportation office
04:27with all the maps and all the things.
04:30And I had great actors with me,
04:32including 20, I think,
04:36Santa Fe school bus drivers.
04:38That actually really helped too
04:40because you can see the care that they take
04:44for the kids that they're shuttling around.
04:48One of them, this woman, Patty,
04:50I remember when I was shadowing someone
04:53who does my job in Santa Fe,
04:55this woman, Patty, came in and she was like,
04:56make sure that you call Eric's mom
05:00when you get to the house
05:01because she's got an infant
05:02and he needs help with his chair.
05:04And so they're managing a lot of things
05:07and they just take that kind of care
05:09with every student.
05:11And it's just, once again,
05:14people stepping up when their community
05:17and other people need them.
05:19It's pretty cool.
05:19I can't let you go without asking
05:21about the Gilded Age, of course,
05:23which got renewed for a fourth season.
05:26Exciting, right?
05:26Can we expect more of Mrs. Fish?
05:28I hope so.
05:30I really hope so.
05:32None of that is happening yet.
05:35I think the plan is that they will start
05:39in maybe early next year.
05:42But yeah, I certainly hope so.
05:44I've got a lot more to do.
05:48You know, the historical Mrs. Fish
05:49didn't die until 1915.
05:51So unless Julian, you know,
05:53decides he's going to take massive liberties,
05:54I'm hoping that I'm still around.
05:57You got some time.
05:58Yeah, I got a lot of tea to spill.
06:00Yeah.
06:00A lot of dirt to dig up.
06:02Maybe some lives to ruin.
06:03Who knows?
06:04Like, I'm hopeful.
06:05Another HBO show that you got to guest star on
06:07was in Just Like That.
06:09Oh, it was so fun.
06:10As Carrie Bradshaw's editor.
06:12I'd love to hear more about your experience on the show.
06:14I know it recently ended with season three.
06:16What was your experience like
06:17getting to appear across all three seasons?
06:20Oh, it was so great.
06:21And in a way, beautifully overdue.
06:25I was actually cut out of the first Sex in the City film.
06:29I shot four days.
06:32And I remember getting a voicemail
06:34from Michael Patrick King a couple months later.
06:37And he was like, sweetie, Elaine didn't make it.
06:41We had to lift out several things.
06:43And so for years, he's been like,
06:45but we're going to get you on something.
06:47You know, we're going to work together.
06:48We're going to work together soon.
06:50And it's going to air.
06:51And then it ended up being this.
06:53And not only was it great to work with him,
06:56Carrie Bradshaw's an immaculate character.
07:00And to work with Sarah Jessica was a dream.
07:02Rachel Dratch is in one of those episodes.
07:05She's fantastic.
07:06I got directed by my friend Cynthia Nixon
07:09for one of the episodes.
07:11We go way, way back.
07:13So it was really lovely to not just be on Gilded with her,
07:17but to be directed by her.
07:19It was really special.
07:20I got a lot of fun.
07:21I got a lot of fun.
07:22I got a lot of fun.
07:22I got a lot of fun.
07:23I got a lot of fun.
07:24I got a lot of fun.
07:25I got a lot of fun.
07:26I got a lot of fun.
07:27I got a lot of fun.
07:28I got a lot of fun.
07:29I got a lot of fun.
07:30I got a lot of fun.
07:31I got a lot of fun.
07:32I got a lot of fun.
07:33I got a lot of fun.
07:34I got a lot of fun.
07:35I got a lot of fun.
07:36I got a lot of fun.
07:37I got a lot of fun.
07:38I got a lot of fun.
07:39I got a lot of fun.
07:40I got a lot of fun.
07:41I got a lot of fun.
07:42I got a lot of fun.
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