Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey is currently negotiating to star in a new thriller based on one of the deadliest fires in California history, the 2018 “Camp Fire.” According to Deadline, the film, titled Lost Bus, will follow bus driver Kevin McKay and school teacher Mary Ludwig trying to save a bus full of children during the Camp Fire in Paradise.
McConaughey is not the only one negotiating to be part of the project, as director Paul Greengrass, who has directed multiple films in the Jason Bourne series and Captain Phillips (2013), is in negotiations to direct this thriller film.
Apple is also throwing its hat into the ring to work on the film and make it an Apple Original Film. All deals must be closed, and the film needs a studio greenlight to be produced.
The film itself was adapted from the book Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire by Lizzie Johnson and was adapted to a screenplay by Brad Ingelsby, who has worked on films such as Run All Night (2015), Our Friend (2019) and The Way Back (2020).
McKay and Ludwig’s story was just one of the multiple events occurring during the fire and was covered and reported on by Johnson. McKay and Ludwig were two of four people honored by the Red Cross for their actions during the catastrophe, which destroyed 14,000 residences and killed 85 people.
Work on the film came to fruition when Jamie Lee Curtis heard about the book after Johnson was on an NPR broadcast. Curtis’ studio, Comet Pictures, then brought the project to Jason Blum’s Blumhouse, and the two continued to work on the project, according to Deadline.
When producers first got Ingelsby’s script, they showed it to Greengrass, who then showed interest in the film. The same is said for McConaughey after he met with producers.
While it may be a while until the film is ready, Greengrass, Ingelsby, and McConaughey currently have other projects.
Greengrass is currently working as the director for the Warner Brothers film Drowning, which is still in production. Apple is currently wrapping production on the film Echo Valley, another thriller by Ingelsby.
According to another Deadline article, McConaughey has recently signed on to star in an Apple TV+ comedy series with actor Woody Harrelson titled Brother from Another Mother, which focuses on the two stars being best friends and how their families come together during life’s conflicts.
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