Matthew McConaughey is returning to the screen with a vengeance. The iconic actor took a six-year break from live-action roles, and now is back with the moving true story of a hero in “The Lost Bus.”
McConaughey stars as a wayward school bus driver who partners with a dedicated school teacher (America Ferrera) to save 22 children from a terrifying inferno. Yul Vazquez, Spencer Watson, and Ashlie Atkinson also star. The logline reads: “A determined father risks everything to rescue a teacher and her students from a raging wildfire.”
Oscar-nominated “United 93” director Paul Greengrass helms the film which is inspired by real events. Greengrass and Brad Ingelsby co-wrote the feature, based on the book “Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire” by Lizzie Johnson. Ingelsby, Jason Blum, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Gregory Goodman are producing the Apple Original Film, which the studio deemed a “white-knuckle ride through one of America’s deadliest wildfires.” Amy Lord and author Johnson are executive producing.
“The Lost Bus” is McConaughey’s second release of 2025; he also led “The Rivals of Amziah King” which premiered in March at SXSW. McConaughey told Variety that his time away from Hollywood led to his love of acting being reinvigorated.
“I remembered a couple of things: One, how much I truly enjoy performing. Two, I remembered, ‘hey, McConaughey, you’re pretty damn good at this,’” he said. “And three, I remembered that acting is a vacation for me, and what I mean by vacation is that when I’m performing, it’s my singular focus. When I walk out the door in the morning, my wife says, ‘Go kick some ass. I got the kiddos. We’re good.’ That’s vacation. Because I’m not multitasking. I’m not compartmentalizing. I’m fully focused on finding the truth of my character.”
McConaughey is set to reunite with his “True Detective” collaborator Nic Pizzolatto for a “Mike Hammer” feature based on the private investigator character. Pizzolatto wrote the screenplay based on the book series by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins.
“The Lost Bus” premieres in select theaters on September 19, before debuting globally on Apple TV+ Friday, October 3. Check out the trailer below.
