Matthew McConaughey’s latest film, “The Lost Bus,” has proved a family affair.
McConaughey’s son Levi, 17, and his mother, Mary, play his character’s son and mother in the movie, which is based on the real-life story of a school bus driver who saved 22 kids from one of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in California history.
While speaking with Willie Geist about the film, McConaughey recalled what it was like to work with Levi in the flick.
“There was an extra sort of soul to it for me,” he said on the Oct. 12 edition of Sunday Sitdown. “It felt very professional doing it with him, though.”
“I said, ‘I can help coach you, I can help teach you what I can, but once we show up on the day, I’m not there as a safety net,'” the Oscar winner said. “And he showed up. He was not looking at me like, ‘Hey, is it OK? … ‘ Uh-uh. He worked with the director, and I sat back as a proud dad going, there we go!”
McConaughey explained that Levi has been “leaning into” acting, and he’s allowing his eldest child to make choices about his own career.
“I’m not putting that pressure on him either way. But he’s off to a great start, and he’s in the door,” he said. “As far as nepotism goes for me, Camila and I always say, ‘Don’t you ever feel entitled.'”
“When he read for this role, I sent it to the casting director. She said, ‘I think it’s good enough to send to the director,'” he added. “And I went, ‘Pull his last name.'”
Without the McConaughey name, the actor said his son got the part on “his own merit” — though he did benefit from dad’s advice.
“I tried to do my best to teach and coach him, probably over-coached him a couple times,” McConaughey said. “… I’m like, ‘I think I gave him too much to think about.'”
As for McConaughey’s mother, Mary, he joked that even though she’s 93, she can “find energy, especially if she’s going to be in front of the camera.”
“To have my mom here and my son here and be in the middle as a bridge of those generations doing something that became a career for me, that 1992 I didn’t know if it was going to be a weekend hobby but turned out to be a career — very cool,” he said.
McConaughey shares Levi with his wife, Camila Alves McConaughey. The couple are also proud parents to two younger kids, Vida, 15, and Livingston, 12.
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