It’s a big week for Brad Ingelsby. When we meet in the lounge at Toronto’s St. Regis Hotel, he’s just landed for the TIFF premiere of The Lost Bus, the film he co-wrote with director Paul Greengrass. And only last night, he was at the New York premiere of Task, his new HBO Max show,which sees him return to the Philly suburbs he depicted so compellingly in his Emmy-winning series Mare of Easttown.
The Lost Bus takes us inside the hellish inferno of the 2018 Camp fire that decimated the town of Paradise in Northern California. Ingelsby co-wrote the adaptation of former San Francisco Chronicle reporter Lizzie Johnson’s book Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire. We follow the true story of down-on-his-luck school bus driver Kevin McKay (Matthew McConaughey), as he struggles to maintain a relationship with his teenage son, to pay the bills and keep his job on track. When the fire breaks out, Kevin must somehow get his bus full of children to safety with the help of their teacher Mary Ludwig (America Ferrera).
Now, seven years after the devastating trauma depicted in the film, Mary continues to teach school. Kevin quit driving the bus and trained as a teacher. Both are in town for the big event tonight, and as we sit at the hotel bar, Ingelsby looks around, hoping to see them. He says, “I texted them tonight and I said, ‘How are you feeling about everything?’ And they’re super excited and super nervous at the same time. They have so much to be proud of. They did something so courageous. It’s a story that I felt strongly deserved to be told, and Paul [Greengrass] is the filmmaker to do it, who can handle these disaster movies with that kind of range and authenticity and honesty.”
Here, Ingelsby describes how he navigated re-telling events that changed the course of so many lives, his approach to new show Task and why he’s ready to revisit Mare of Easttown at last.
DEADLINE: The Lost Bus was in the editing process by the time the LA fires happened earlier this year. Did the timing give you pause since it was so raw?
BRAD INGELSBY: It’s one of those things where you ask yourself, is it a healing movie where it shows heroism in the face of something tragic? Or is it too soon? But what attracted me to the project was it’s about a regular person who does something really heroic. So not to highlight the devastation, but to highlight the act of courage that Mary and Kevin were able to perform in the face of awful tragedy and fear. And to me, I felt like the story deserves to be told. We don’t get to see that stuff all the time.
DEADLINE: Jamie Lee Curtis had heard Kevin’s story but how did it all come together for you? I know you’ve said you like to zero in on one character first to find the story.
INGELSBY: Jamie Lee gave the article to Jason Blum who sent it to me. I’m always trying to talk myself out of something. I don’t want the pressure of doing it. And then I talked to Jamie Lee, she said, “Let’s go up and meet Kevin and Mary.” And we flew up to Paradise together and we spent three or so days getting to know them. And it changes things when you meet the real people, when you walk in their house, when you meet their kids, when you hear stories about them. And when I left that trip, I felt like, oh, there are ideas I can tap into here emotionally, like a father and a son, redemption, a life with loose ends. I like to tell working class stories. So I really like that aspect of Kevin’s life that he was a working class guy. That spoke to things that I like to write about. And then I said, “Listen, I’ll just write it. Let’s not bring on a studio. Let me just write it.” I gave the script to Jason and at that point he said, “Well, let’s go out and get a director.” And he got Paul. And we took it to Apple with a package, which is how it really worked. And then Paul, he came in, had ideas about the script, and he put his stamp on the movie in ways I never could. He made it a much bigger movie, I think, in a really good way.
DEADLINE: Tell me about the ways he did that?
INGELSBY: Paul’s movie widens the scope. My script was much more centered on the bus, inside the bus, with the bus. Paul was able to open up the film. We’re at the call center and we’re with the firefighter and then we’re with the parents waiting. So it’s a much broader account of the fire and the script I wrote. And I think it’s incredibly effective. I think I would say my story was more just about the bus and I think the movie’s about the fire and many people experiencing the fire, not just Kevin and Mary, they were kind of the nucleus of the thing, but there are other people in the orbit who are dealing with the fire. So I think he did a wonderful job. And it’s incredibly tense.
DEADLINE: The way that the film depicts fire, it’s like it’s this kind of mystical, monstrous being. It was incredibly frightening.
INGELSBY: Well, that was all Paul. I mean, I think in the early drafts of the script, we kind of had some smaller ideas about having to follow the embers. That’s really how the fire grew so quickly, was the wind [blowing the embers].
DEADLINE: That’s what happened in LA.
INGELSBY: But Paul took that idea and made it something special. It’s creeping along, getting closer, as you said, it’s like a monster lurking and you’re scared of it. One thing Paul said to me, when he read my draft was, “I want it to be more about the fire.” And he also said, “We can’t have the bus slow down. I think there was a couple of times in my draft where they were stuck in traffic a little bit more.” I understand why. The audience wants to feel momentum. By the way, Paul is such a lovely guy. He’s done these things incredibly well and he’s always kept me included. And look, he didn’t have to, but he always did. He always made sure to keep me a part of the process.
DEADLINE: I know that Mare was inspired by a real cop and I know that your uncle was the genesis of Tom, the FBI agent in Task. But when this is a real trauma that’s happened to the people you’re writing about, how do you work with them? Did you show them drafts? How much back and forth was there?
INGELSBY: I haven’t done it that many times. I don’t want to act like I’m an expert, but the way I have been able to do it in the past is to just be a listener at first and not approach them with a lot of questions. And when I do have a question, it’s more, “I want to hear about your experience.” It’s not like, “Hey, tell me a plot point that could get me here”. It’s very open. It’s very like, “What was the experience like?” And just be a really good listener. And then to also say, “Listen, I’m going to do everything I can to make it as truthful as possible, but I hope you understand that what we’re after isn’t necessarily the truth, but the spirit of the truth.” How close can we get to that? We’re never going to be perfect. The story’s going to demand things that didn’t happen. Like I was saying, in the real story, they had to stop in traffic [for longer]. They were stuck there. I’m always really upfront about that and I say, “If anything makes you really uncomfortable, let me know and I’ll make every effort,” because the last thing I want is for someone to watch a movie of their life go, “Oh, I hate that.”
DEADLINE: Kevin and Mary’s whole community is going to watch this. Do you feel like Kevin and Mary are ready to be seen on this scale?
INGELSBY: Well, you know what I have to say? And she’s too humble, but Jamie Lee, if there’s ever been a moment where she feels like, hey, this is getting uncomfortable, she reaches out [to Kevin and Mary] and she won’t ever tell you that stuff is happening. But I know it’s happening because Mary texts me and goes, “I just got a call from Jamie Lee.” So she is an incredible liaison. And it’s all coming from a place of love and wanting everyone to feel included. And so I think she’s gotten them ready in a way. And I’m friendly with Kevin and Mary too, and I think at least I hope they trust me enough. I said to Mary, “Just soak it in tonight. I know it’s going to be scary.” I get scared whenever something’s coming out and it’s not about my life. But I think having Jamie Lee is a kind of special thing for this project, and she cares so much about it. She’s been there from the jump, and she’s here tonight, and she leads the charge. She’s really a lovely person. I’ve been blown away by her kindness in this process. I have to tell you too though, I’ve never been with a celebrity that more people recognize in my entire life. We were walking around Paradise and god bless her, she sat there and took a picture with every single person, but it was like she couldn’t move without someone recognizing her.
DEADLINE: What was their reaction the first time they saw the film?
INGELSBY: They told me they were really proud. I texted them in the aftermath, “How do you feel?” and they were like “It’s a lot to process, but really proud.”
DEADLINE: How did you feel seeing Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera as Kevin and Mary?
INGELSBY: Matthew does exceptionally well. He’s a great actor. He’s played a variety of characters. But I always love him when he is playing a sort of down-and-out working class guy. He’s always good. He can do anything. But I think he’s exceptionally good at these roles. And America is just such a deeply accessible actress. From the first moment she comes on the screen, I say this in the best possible way, I’m like, “Oh, that’s my kid’s schoolteacher.” She is instantly believable as a teacher and a teacher that would check the kids’ lunches every day and go the extra mile. And that to me is Mary. Mary loves being a teacher.
DEADLINE: Moving onto the new show you created, Task, it premieres on Sunday and it stars Mark Ruffalo as FBI agent Tom, a former priest, on the hunt for a violent criminal. We talked a little bit briefly about how Tom was inspired by your uncle. How so?
INGESLBY: Yes. My uncle was an Augustinian priest for 30 years. He left the priesthood when he met a woman. He married her. He’s not an FBI agent. My uncle’s just a really kind, compassionate, inclusive guy. And he worked at a parish and he would hear people’s confessions and he was a teacher. And I would always say to Mark [Ruffalo] on set, you don’t have any superpowers as an agent. There’s nothing particularly good about you, you are not skilled with a gun or a hard-charging guy, but you approach the job with a very specific point of view. You have taken on the burden of people’s sins and their shame. You look at people with a lot of compassion. You’re a humanist. And by the way, these are all qualities Mark Ruffalo has. He’s just one of the nicest, kindest people I’ve ever met. And so I was interested in that. And then we learned that the FBI works with priest and clergy in the wake of mass casualty events at a school shooting or a bombing, they’ll bring clergy with them so they can counsel people in the wake of these events. And I just thought, that’s really interesting. I never heard that before. And I always felt like a parish priest is serving a community. It’s a life of service. And the FBI is a different life of service. Then I also liked the idea that a guy who felt called by god to adopt these children. And then in adopting these children, it causes the grave tragedy of his life. And he’s asking himself, what kind of god is that? And he’s also saying, well, it was easy for me to talk to people about their problems, but now it’s happened to me, and I am adrift. I’m completely unmoored. And it’s through the gauntlet of this case, him crossing paths with Tom Pelphrey [and his character Robbie], who’s really excellent, by the way.
DEADLINE: The character of Robbie, a garbage collector- turned-criminal, came to you through a suggestion from someone. Who was that?
INGELSBY: So, I know the real chief of police at Easttown, I met him on the show. He was our technical advisor, and now he helps me on all the shows. So, I was talking to Chief Dave and he said to me, “Mailman and trash collectors, those are guys that know a lot about your life.” They go through your neighborhood every day in the case of a mailman, or twice a week maybe in the case of the trash collector. And they’re totally invisible to you. I just thought, that’s really interesting. I also felt like Robbie felt invisible to people, and a part of his anger was like, why shouldn’t I have a better life? I stay here the rest of my life, what good is that? Why shouldn’t I get my bite of the apple? Also I didn’t want to do another whodunnit. I feel like that was kind of reserved for Mare.
DEADLINE: So where are you at with Mare of Easttown now? Julianne Nicholson recently told me you’re still in touch and it comes up.
INGELSBY: Well I love Mare. I can say that it’s one of the most enjoyable characters to write. I love Lori too. Lori to me is so amazing, and that’s Julianne. I saw her in a movie called Tully when I was really young, and I was like, who is this actress? She just has something so honest about her. Look, I love the idea of doing Mare and I like the idea of doing Mare years later, because it’s more believable that another case could go in this small town.
I think what made Mare work, and maybe other people have other reasons why they liked the show, but she was a woman who has a really hard time. She has to investigate people that she has a rich history with, who she really cares about, and it makes her job exceptionally hard. She likes these people, but she has to do a job. And so if we did another crime, I would want it to involve people in her life too. That’s what it makes all those interactions really, really, really tense. Because wait, I’m not just asking you a question. I went to prom with you and you broke up with my brother, and that’s what you get in those small towns.
I’ve always said to Kate, “I’d love to do it.” I love Mare. The great joy about Mare as a character is always that she’s incredibly unpredictable. And as a writer, that’s such a gift. And the thing about Mare that is also a gift is that she can do terrible things, and you would always love her. She’s just so unpredictable. She’s so inconsistent. That’s why I always got such a kick out of writing her. She’s mean to her family and exceptionally kind to the strangers in the town. She’s really snarky and then incredibly compassionate. And Kate would wrap her arms around the inconsistencies, and I think that’s what made her feel even more human. I mean, she’s a great character and Kate’s a great actress.
DEADLINE: Do you think Kate would do it again?
INGESLBY: We can dream. I think it would be fun. Mare is such a vibrant character that I think there’s a lot to mine.
DEADLINE: What about a Season 2 for Task?
INGESLBY: Another one that I would love to do, we just got to see if there’s an appetite, and I guess we’ll see in the next couple of weeks. We’ll see when it gets out there, how people respond.
The Lost Bus premieres at TIFF September 5th, 9.30pm at the Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto. It is in theaters September 19th and will stream on Apple TV+ from October 3rd.
Task is streaming on HBO Max from September 7th.
The post Brad Ingelsby On Writing ‘The Lost Bus’ Premiering At TIFF, His New Show ‘Task’ And The Status Of ‘Mare Of Easttown’ Season 2 appeared first on Deadline.
