One of the most striking of those stories was that of the heroic bus driver Kevin McKay and school teacher Mary Ludwig, who helped rescue 22 elementary students to safety from the fire.
The inspiring story has now been brought to life by Apple in new film The Lost Bus – directed by Paul Greengrass and led by Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera, with Hollywood icon Jamie Lee Curtis serving as a producer.
“I first heard the story of Kevin McKay from the Washington Post, when they were doing a review of Lizzie Johnson’s book [Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire],” Curtis explained during an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com.
“They highlighted his story, and I remember I said to my husband, kind of flippantly… ‘Well, there’s the movie.’ Because of course, you could tell that very interpersonal, human story amid this inferno that would be almost impossible to imagine filming.
“I didn’t do anything that day, and the next day, I was driving in my car in the mountains,” she continued. “And there was an NPR interview of Scott Simon interviewing Lizzie Johnson, the author of the book. And he said… ‘Lizzie, the story that got me was Kevin McKay and Mary Ludwig.’
“And I pulled my car over on the side of the road. I called Jason Blum, who’s my business partner, and I said, Jason, I want to buy this book. I’m sending you links. It’s going to be expensive to buy, but I believe it’ll be the most important thing either one of us do in the movie business.”
In the film, Kevin McKay is portrayed by one of the most celebrated actors of our generation – Matthew McConaughey. And the Oscar winner explained that playing a real hero was both a responsibility and an honour.
“I say there’s a responsibility because you’re not only dealing with the portrayal of those people, but also an entire communal experience where people died,” he said. “Brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers died – so how you tell that story [is important.]
He added: “Even though we made it a piece of entertainment and we took our dramatic license, it’s inspired by those events and it kept to the spirit of what happened and who these people were and where they ended up after this film.”
It was the job of acclaimed director and screenwriter Greengrass – known for his work on the Bourne films and a number of true story dramas including United 93 – to bring this true story of heroism to life, and Ferrera called the filmmaker’s approach “masterful”.
“As an actor, I wasn’t worried about my part in making a big movie,” she explained “My job and my lane was to tell the story of this character.
“What is so beautiful about how Paul works is that I felt I had everything I needed to be clear about what my character’s journey was and then what he asks is complete and utter trust, let it all go.
The trust that Greengrass required from his actors was crucial for telling the epic story, as he would immerse the actors in the drama with 30-minute-long takes that saw 6 to 10 cameras rolling simultaneously.
“At a certain point, you can’t keep track of what’s going on, you just have to know and trust that Paul and this incredible crew are making a big movie and my job is to be present and be in the moment and tell the character’s journey,” said Ferrera.
“It’s very easy with Paul to get out of your head,” added McConaughey. “It’s actually impossible to stay in your head because there’s so much going on and every time a camera is at a different spot. Okay, he’s corralling this thing; let me just handle what I’m doing. I don’t need to look for a mark, I don’t need to look for a light, I don’t have to be technical. Let me just behave.”
While preparing for the role, McConaughey was also faced with a pertinent question: what is the definition of a hero? Though there isn’t one definitive answer, he came to the conclusion that it was someone who consistently “runs towards the crisis, not away from it.”
The selfless acts of bravery that McKay and Ludwig exhibited were something that lingered with both McConaughey and Ferrera long after filming commenced as they tried to truly understand what these people were thinking in the moments of crisis.
“[When] someone who is doing the best to save their immediate family, what is it that makes someone [make that choice] when they get the call to take care of 22 kids that they’re not related to. Is it the right thing to do? What was it that made Kevin make that choice? He didn’t have to pick up, he could have got his mom and son,” said McConaughey.
Ferrera echoed this sentiment, explaining that it was something that would be hard for “many of us to imagine” and that being a parent was the only context that she had for this selfless bravery.
“[When you’re a parent], you don’t have a choice to run from the crisis, you have to run to the crisis. Both of these characters make such a counter-intuitive choice which is they choose to run towards dangers and away from their duty as parents,” she said.
“That moment for both of them is that they chose against their deepest instincts as parents to rescue their children and save what is most precious to them and instead, the selflessness of showing up for a community that you don’t know because that’s a sense of duty that you feel in that moment. That’s something that is hard for so many of us to imagine.”
The end of the movie shows the devastation caused by the fire and the impact it had on the Butte County community of Paradise. However, it also showed a potential for a brighter future and hope for a rebirth.
“The town of Paradise lost 85 members of their community and it burned the entire community,” said Curtis. “But today, it’s a thriving and surviving community. They are a robust and rebuilding group of people.”
Curtis added that she was most proud that the cast and crew of helped support the creation of a permanent memorial to the people of Paradise, which will “give significant support to that permanent memorial once the movie is done and gone”.
The Hope Plaza is a landmark dedicated to the memory of the Camp Fire and is a place of honour for the first responders and those who perished, as people come together to reflect and inspire hope for the future of the community.
The Lost Bus is on Apple TV+ from Friday 3rd October 2025 – sign up to Apple TV+ now.
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