McConaughey movie filming in Santa Fe, Ruidoso, Española
Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey and director Paul Greengrass are in New Mexico filming the movie The Lost Bus — a story about the 2018 Camp Fire in California.
The film stars McConaughey and America Ferrera, known for her star role in the ABC show Ugly Betty and most recently as Gloria in the Barbie movie.
The screenplay was written by Brad Ingelsby based on the book Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire by Lizzie Johnson. The filmmakers are employing more than 2,500 locals — about 2,100 as background actors and another 480 as crew members.
New Mexico Film Office spokeswoman Dolores Martinez said The Lost Bus began filming in April and will continue through June in Santa Fe, Ruidoso and Española. Jennifer LaBar-Tapia, film commissioner for the Santa Fe Film Office, said The Lost Bus has been in pre-production in Santa Fe since the end of last year. In recent months, filmmakers put out casting calls for roles like firefighters, police officers, journalists and fire evacuees.
Jamie Lee Curtis’ Comet Pictures, Jason Blum’s Blumhouse, Ingelsby and Greg Goodman are the producers, the New Mexico Film Office said in a news release.
The Lost Bus is the second film Greengrass has directed in New Mexico in the last few years following the 2020 Western
News of the World with actor Tom Hanks.
The Lost Bus — which is being distributed by Apple Original Films, according to Variety — follows the perspective of bus driver Kevin McKay, played by McConaughey, and teacher Mary Ludwig, played by Ferrera, as they “navigate
a bus full of children through a deadly wildfire as Paradise is caught in the destruction and chaos of the devastating wildfire,” the film office said.
The Camp Fire was the deadliest in California’s history, killing more than 80 people and leading to more than a dozen injuries in Butte County in 2018, according to state officials. The fire covered more than 150,000 acres and destroyed about 18,000 structures in the towns of Paradise and Concow.
LaBar-Tapia said Greengrass’ and Goodman’s News of the World filmed in Santa Fe County in 2019.
“They were the first production to go out to Camel Rock Studios,” she said.
She said big productions like The Lost Bus help the local economy.
“Having a big production like this with needing so much background talent, it just opens up doors for individuals who are interested to be part of it,” she said. “When any film is here, it impacts our local businesses like dry cleaners and our local hardware stores and those kinds of things.”