California’s wildfires have gripped the nation in recent years. Dry conditions have made it difficult for the West Coast to prevent and contain them. Nine months after a string of infernos destroyed multiple Los Angeles County towns, Apple TV+’s The Lost Bus, starring Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera, premiered, focusing on the 2018 Camp Fire, which burned the Northern California town of Paradise.
Considered the state’s deadliest wildfire to date, with 85 casualties, the Camp Fire started from a failed Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) transmission line. The blaze destroyed more than 18,000 structures and displaced over 50,000 people in the area. Smoke blanketed neighboring counties for nearly three weeks before the fire was contained.
Below, Hollywood Life explains the true story behind The Lost Bus, where the production was filmed and more about the cast.
Where Was The Lost Bus Filmed? Movie Location
Though it takes place in the town of Paradise, California, where the Camp Fire ravaged, The Lost Bus was filmed in Ruidoso, New Mexico.
The True Story Behind The Lost Bus Movie: Who Is Kevin McKay?
Kevin McKay, played by McConaughey, was a real bus driver who inspired the on-screen character. The film was directly based on one story from Lizzie Johnson‘s 2021 book, Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire.
On November 8, 2018, McKay responded to an emergency call about 22 children and two teachers who needed to be evacuated from Ponderosa Elementary School due to a fast-moving wildfire. McKay drove them for five hours through 30 miles of thick smoke and fire until they were safe; he told CBS News that year. The two schoolteachers with McKay used ripped pieces of his shirt to help avoid breathing in the smoke.
Unlike his character in the film, McKay’s real-life family had already evacuated when he answered the emergency call.
“I just knew that things were going to continue to escalate,” McKay told CBS in 2018. “We didn’t leave until every kid was accounted for, and every kid was with their mom and dad.”
The second schoolteacher did not want to be involved in the film, so only Ferrera’s character, Mary Ludwig, is portrayed on screen.
The Lost Bus Movie Cast & Characters
In addition to McConaughey’s McKay and Ferrera’s Ludwig, the rest of the cast features Yul Vazquez as Ray Martinez, the Cal Fire Division chief, Ashlie Atkinson as Ruby, the bus depot dispatcher, Levi McConaughey (McConaughey’s real-life son) as Shaun McKay, Kevin’s son, Kay McCabe McConaughey (McConaughey’s real-life mother) as Sherry McKay, Kate Wharton as Jen Kissoon, the Cal Fire battalion chief, Danny McCarthy as McKenzie, Spencer Watson as Hopkins, Nathan Gariety as Levi and Gary Kraus as Sheriff Thomas.
