Levi McConaughey on the Pressure of Being Matthew McConaughey’s Son as He Begins Acting (Exclusive)

Levi McConaughey is entering showbiz ready to put in the work.

Sitting down with his dad Matthew McConaughey and grandmother, Kay, for PEOPLE’s Generations Issue cover story, the 17-year-old rising star reflects on what it means to take on his first role in Apple TV+’s harrowing thriller The Lost Bus.

“I had to badger him,” says Levi of asking his dad to audition for the part of Matthew’s onscreen son in The Lost Bus (streaming Oct. 3), a survival thriller about the deadly 2018 Camp Fire, which burned more than 150,000 acres and killed 85 people. 

The Oscar winner, who plays a bus driver who tries to save 22 school children alongside a teacher named Mary (America Ferrera), ultimately agreed to put Levi on tape. But before sending it in, Matthew lodged one request.

“Can you pull the last name?” Matthew, 55, recalls asking the film’s casting director. She goes, “Yeah.” And I got a call back and she said, “Our director Paul Greengrass said, ‘That’s the kid. That’s the son, Levi.’ ” And then she goes, and “I told him that’s actually Matthew’s son in real life.” 

“This role wasn’t me going ‘Oh, I’m going to become an actor,’ “ says Levi, who recently hit the red carpet for the film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival alongside mom Camila Alves McConaughey, his dad and Kay, 93, (who also has a small role as Matthew’s character’s mom). “It was me saying, ‘I’m really interested in this.’ ”

Matthew turns to Levi as they look through throwback photos: “Have you felt any pressure of being ‘Matthew McConaughey’s son’?” he asks.

“Yeah, it’s just starting,” acknowledges Levi. “And as much as people can say, ‘Oh, you got this because of your father or your mother,’ they can open the door, but then it’s going to be up to me to do my thing once I get in there. That’s on me.“

Ultimately, says Levi, “you got to have some chops. And so yes, it’d feel like it would be a disservice to them because of how hard they’ve worked to get to the position that they’re at to not take advantage of it, but also put in the work and get after it and do it.”

Matthew nods: “There’s a line between entitlement and shame. If you can look it right in the eye and deal with it, and if it works out, you’ll see, it’s a hell of a roller coaster.”

Still, the Dallas Buyers Club star knows the family name still carries certain expectations: “He’s going to get some more praise in places because of his last name. He’s going to get chastised in more places because of his last name, comes with it.”

How has Matthew tried to prepare his eldest for the spotlight?

“I’ve tried to give him some tips that I’ve learned along the way, tried to give him some of those tips earlier than I understood them,” says the star, who first broke out in 1993’s Dazed and Confused before A Time to Kill cemented him as a star three years later. “I really got into the public eye when I was about, 23 or 24, with A Time to Kill. It was a lot: boom! All of a sudden the world was a mirror. I didn’t meet any strangers or expectations and ‘I love you’s’ all around—”

The Interstellar star continues: “It’s hard to keep your feet on the ground to sift out the real stuff from the BS. But over time you got to get that sixth sense. It’s important that he has his own ownership of who he is and becomes. And [acting] will be a part of that if he continues to do it, part of finding his identity. But it can’t be his full identity.”

Levi’ will next star in Way of the Warrior Kid opposite Chris Pratt, but college — like his dad, who went to the University of Texas at Austin — isn’t out of the question.

“College is something that I’m very open to because it’s an experience,” says Levi. “When you’re going into college, you only get that time once… And if I get a role of something that I want to work on, I can leave college and go do that and come back. [But] in general, I think college as an experience is something that right now I’m leaning towards for sure.”