Ash: First images of Aaron Paul and Eiza González tease a bold sci-fi world from Flying Lotus

Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad, Westworld) and Eiza González (Baby Driver, I Care a Lot) are teaming up with Flying Lotus (a.k.a Steven Ellison) for a mysterious science-fiction film called Ash. Plot details remain in shadows, though some tidbits have managed to emerge from the gloom. According to Entertainment Weekly, González plays a woman who awakes to find the rest of her space station crew dead from questionable circumstances. When a man (Aaron Paul) arrives to escort her to safety, she wonders if she can trust this new and perplexing stranger. Meanwhile, Paul’s character wonders the same about the lone survivor of an interstellar massacre.

In addition to revealing to basics of the plot, EW debuted a gallery of first-look images (below) from Ash, Flying Lotus’ second feature film. “The way his brain works is quite special,” González says about Flying Lotus. “He reminds me a lot of David Fincher, who also started in music videos, as someone who is quite interested in pushing boundaries and not being scared of diving into something. But this movie also required someone who had a really authentic and unique artistic take. We couldn’t have been more lucky, because his visual imagery and the way that he spoke to us about the movie really translated to the making of the film. It’s a movie that causes the audience to stay engaged consistently. I love movies that require you to keep thinking and trying to figure out what is actually happening.”

Flying Lotus directs from an original screenplay by Jonni Remmler. Iko Uwais (The Raid, The Expend4bles), Beulah Koale (Hawaii Five-0, Next Goal Wins), and Kate Elliott (Wentworth, Bliss) also join the core cast.

In addition to directing music videos and composing music for film and video game projects, Flying Lotus is the FlyLo FM DJ featured in the groundbreaking online video game Grand Theft Auto Online. According to Paul, Flying Lotus uses music as fuel for his creative endeavors.

“He was always playing music on set,” Paul told EW during a Zoom interview. “Not necessarily his own music, but just stuff that he dug that fit the vibe of where the characters were at. And then, just before rolling, he would start messing with some stuff that he’d been working on and playing it over the speakers, to get us in the mood. Then they’d yell ‘action!’ and we’d cut the music and go into it.”

“Music gives you an ambiance. It definitely sets you up,” Gonzalez adds. “So having this specific movie and his specific music being made at the same time was so incredibly helpful. Even little details he gave us, like, ‘I want such-and-such instrument predominantly throughout the movie,’ gave us a completely different vibe, especially for me and Aaron. We have a lot of scenes together, and our dynamic is super intense and crucial in the film, so it really made a gigantic difference.”

Plenty of excellent sci-fi movies begin with a lone survivor and a foundation of mistrust. Can we expect Ash to join the ranks of films like Alien, Underwater, and The Thing? Let us know what you think about the setup for Ash in the comments section below.

Also, be sure to check out EW‘s full report for more details.