Ryan Reynolds on John Candy’s prideful vulnerability
Ryan Reynolds reflects on John Candy’s mix of pride and vulnerability in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.” The actor produces “John Candy: I Like Me.”
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TORONTO – Before Matthew McConaughey’s character drives through flames to save 23 souls, he has quite the fire to put out on the home front.
Directed by Paul Greengrass, the thriller “The Lost Bus” (in select theaters Sept. 19 and streaming on Apple TV+ Oct. 3) centers on the true-life heroes of the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in California’s history.
McConaughey plays hard-luck bus driver Kevin McKay, who’s responsible for getting more than 20 kids and their teacher (America Ferrera) home while also worrying about his teenage son, Shaun. Early in the movie, they have a serious fight that ends with Shaun yelling, “I hate you! I wish you were dead!”
A tearful McConaughey wears so much emotion on his face in that moment, and it’s interesting on a whole other dramatic level because Shaun is played by the Oscar winner’s son Levi, 17, in his film debut. (Another fun fact: McConaughey’s mom, Kay, plays Kevin’s mother.)
“I cannot imagine those words ever come outta my son Levi. Not to me,” Matthew McConaughey says a day before premiering “Lost Bus” on Sept. 5 at Toronto Film Festival. “Does the nightmare of that kind of relationship, parlayed with the gratitude and thanks that that’s not our relationship, compound in that moment with Kevin in the hallway? Yeah. That’s why the hugs were a little longer after the scenes were done and it was an exhale of, ahh, glad that’s not our relationship.”
He and Levi talked about how “it wasn’t an uncomfortable place for us to go,” McConaughey says. “If we had a relationship actually closer to the relationship with Kevin and his son of the movie, that might’ve been more difficult. We would be going like, ‘Man, this is kind of based on us.’ That could have been trickier territory. But because it wasn’t, as Levi said, it gave him almost license to go all the way there: ‘I can really hate you because I know in real life I don’t.’ “
McConaughey likens it to playing Rustin Cohle on “True Detective” and being able to take big swings with that character because “my faith was very strong at that time. I didn’t have to look over my shoulder going into this absolutely agnostic philosophy in life. I trust that when I come out the other side, my faith will still be waiting.”
The actor says Levi has always been “a performer.” When McConaughey and wife Camila Alves have “debates” in the house with their children – including daughter Vida, 15, and son Livingston, 12 – “we’re like, ‘You got 10 minutes,’ ” McConaughey says. Levi “was the one that would always set up slideshows and have audiovisuals. … It’d be like, ‘This is a really good performance.’ He wins most of the arguments that way.”
Being in front of the camera hadn’t been a goal for him. Both he and Vida have worked on their dad’s sets, with Levi in the camera department and Vida in wardrobe. But when McConaughey was telling the story of “The Lost Bus” to his family, Levi perked up, asked how old Kevin’s son is in the movie and wanted to read for the part.
“I was like, ‘Hmm.’ And I left it because I wanted to see how much he would pepper me,” McConaughey says with a laugh. “He peppered me the next day and the next day and the next day – he came back a total of four times. And after the fourth time I went, ‘All right, let me check.’ “
Shaun hadn’t been cast, so Levi went on camera. McConaughey liked what he saw and sent it to the casting director, saying he thought it might be good for a callback.
“She goes, ‘I think it might be good enough to send straight to the director,’ ” McConaughey recalls. “And I said, ‘Well, if you do that, can you take his last name off of it?’ She sent it to Paul without the last name and Paul goes, ‘This is the kid!’ “
When Greengrass found out Levi was McConaughey’s son, ‘he was like, ‘Oh, great! Even better.’ “
(This report has been updated with new images and details.)
