The first teaser trailer for Apple TV’s The Lost Bus provides a glimpse of Matthew McConaughey‘s long-anticipated return to the big screen. Directed by noted thriller director Paul Greengrᴀss, The Lost Bus sees Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey and Oscar-nominee America Ferrera team up to save a group of schoolchildren from a blazing, ᴅᴇᴀᴅly wildfire. Set for release this fall on Apple TV+ and in select cinemas, The Lost Bus promises to be an emotional, high-stakes, and all-too-relevant thriller, based on journalist Lizzie Johnson’s firsthand account of California’s Camp Fire, Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire.

The trailer for the Apple TV+ original film begins by following McConaughey’s character, a school bus driver, as he hears about a dangerous situation unfolding at a local elementary school. It seems he has a choice to make: will he risk his life to save those in need, or will he save himself to be with his son? This impossible choice is made all the more harrowing as the trailer is interspersed with chilling images of wildfire smoke, burning landscapes, and a terrifying sH๏τ of a rickety school bus driving through a blazing inferno. Check out the footage below:

While speaking to Screen Rant‘s Liam Crowley to on the red carpet for Apple’s Echo Valley, The Lost Bus writer Bad Inglesby spoke about how special the film is and McConaughey’s “incredible” performance. Read his full quote below:

Brad Inglesby: It’s Paul Greengrᴀss, it’s Matthew McConaughey. I’ve seen the film, it’s really special, and Matthew’s performance is incredible. He plays a bus driver who gets caught in the fire in Paradise, California, on the day the fire hits, and he picks up a group of kids, and then has to navigate them out of the fire. I won’t spoil anything else, but he’s amazing in the movie. Paul did a wonderful job. Really excited for that movie to come out.

This Is Matthew McConaughey’s First Widely Released Starring Role In Six Years

The Lost Bus Promises An Intense Return For The Star

The last time audiences saw Matthew McConaughey in a starring role in a widely released film was in 2019’s The Gentlemen, in which the actor played an American Oxford dropout turned crime boss with a booming narcotics business. The film became popular enough to spawn a TV spinoff, Netflix’s The Gentleman, though that series focused on an entirely different aristocratic English family and criminal empire. Earlier this year, McConaughey starred in The Rivals of Amziah King alongside Kurt Russell, which premiered at South by Southwest, though it has yet to be slated for a wider release.

Our Take On The Lost Bus Teaser Trailer

An Intimate Take On A Major Tragedy

Though it can be hard to tell from the teaser trailer alone, it looks like The Lost Bus is set to be an intimate examination of a major national tragedy. The California Camp Fire was one of the ᴅᴇᴀᴅliest wildfires in U.S. history. As we follow two brave yet unlikely heroes, this harrowing film will provide a more personal look at how communities are affected by these devastating events. The more we get to know McConaughey’s bus driver and Ferrera’s school teacher, the more terrifying the unfolding inferno becomes.

As wildfires become more common and ᴅᴇᴀᴅlier across the globe, a movie like this could genuinely impact our collective perception of them. Paul Greengrᴀss is an accomplished thriller director, and he’ll no doubt be able to balance the edge-of-your-seat visuals and heart-pounding action sequences with the smaller, more emotionally-focused scenes Matthew McConaughey, America Ferrera, and their fellow cast members, Yul Vazquez, Ashlie Atkinson, and Spencer Watson, will undoubtedly deliver in The Lost Bus.

Source: Apple TV