Summary

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff chats with the team behind Ash at SXSW 2025.

Stars Eiza González and Aaron Paul and director Flying Lotus discuss navigating sci-fi tropes, world-building, and working with themes of isolation.

Paul also teases more Westworld, and González shares an update on 3 Body Problem Season 2 and discusses her experience working with Boots Riley on I Love Boosters.

Getting left alone can take a mental toll on anyone. Eiza González and Aaron Paul felt their own sense of isolation while working on Ash. A departure for Flying Lotus after his directorial debut, the adult animated comedy Kuso, Ash is set on a distant planet where a woman (González) wakes up and finds out that her entire crew at the base camp has been massacred. Unaware of what could have caused the destruction, she goes on a quest for answers, and that quest takes a gnarly turn.
To celebrate Ash’s World Premiere at SXSW 2025, the director and leads made a stop at the Collider Media Studio at the Cinema Center for a conversation with Perri Nemiroff. During the interview, Flying Lotus highlighted his enthusiasm for world-building, addressed avoiding sci-fi tropes established by Alien, and discussed how the project’s main characters navigate isolation. The cast also shared how filming at a warehouse in New Zealand without their loved ones helped them get into the mindset of their characters.
In addition to talking about Ash, González also gave an update on the production status of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem Season 2 and detailed her experience working with Boots Riley on I Love Boosters. You can watch the full interview in the video above, or you can read the transcript below.
Guillermo del Toro Gave Flying Lotus a Word of Advice Before ‘Ash’

The Oscar-winning filmmaker told him to “direct the movies that need you to make them”.

PERRI NEMIROFF: Because we’re celebrating Ash as a film festival debut, our audience might not know it yet. Can one of you give a brief synopsis?
AARON PAUL: Are you ready? A girl wakes up in a base camp on another planet, played by this brilliant young actress. She’s very beaten up, she’s very confused. She doesn’t quite remember who she is. She’s realizing very quickly that her entire crew has been murdered, and then, someone shows up on the outside of the base camp, and she attacks him, and that happens to be me. She’s trying to figure out if she can trust him; he’s trying to figure out if he can trust her.
EIZA GONZÁLEZ: It’s kind of a cat and mouse.
One of my favorite parts of getting a synopsis, especially for a movie like this, is it shows me exactly where to stop so I don’t spoil anything!
PAUL: Smart. Yeah, stop there!
I am a big nerd and I read the press notes. Flying Lotus, there are a couple of things in your director’s statement that really caught my eye. You brought up a conversation you had with Guillermo del Toro, who I love. He’s a ray of light in this industry. He told you, “Don’t direct the movies that you need to make. Direct the movies that need you to make them.”
FLYING LOTUS: The way he said it, too, was just perfect.
When this idea came your way, what was it about it that made you think, I need to make this movie for that reason?
FLYING LOTUS: That’s a good question. For me, it was just the way that it had a sense of world-building that was there, but it wasn’t necessarily complete. It was just the inklings of some really cool ideas that I was just like, “Oh, but if it had that, or you add a little bit of this!” It started to form, and I just felt like it needed my touch, or else something bad was going to happen. [Laughs]
GONZÁLEZ: I agree, actually. I totally agree.
‘Ash’s Throughline Is Isolation’s Effects on the Human Brain

“It’s about the human experience of isolation, truly, and that’s something that everyone can relate to.”

Image via RLJE Films

I love good world-building. For each of you, when it comes to the world-building in this movie, is there anything about what’s on set or what’s going on in their backstories that you held especially tight to, and now we can feel it informing your performance or the world overall?
FLYING LOTUS: Well, one thing that people probably won’t know off the top, because we didn’t really get into it too much, is that in this world there are a bunch of private companies flying through space and trying to inhabit planets. This company, in particular, is kinda on a smaller scale, lower budget. They have ghetto equipment on their base, so all the things around them are kind of not working well anyway.
PAUL: They’re doing their thing!
GONZÁLEZ: They’re trying their hardest.
You need a cinematic universe now, and each film could be about a different company and how it changes based on the resources that they have!
How about for the two of you? Maybe something about their backstory and how they got involved in this company that is informing what you do?
PAUL: For me, it’s pretty clear that these characters are just trying to survive like everybody else. And just fighting for a better life.
FLYING LOTUS: You also were on your isolation tip. You’d been away in the orbital for a while.
PAUL: Yeah, he’s just kind of doing his thing. He’s floating around, orbiting the planet by himself, listening to some sort of classical music, maybe.

Image by Photagonist

GONZÁLEZ: I just think that isolation is obviously a big throughline throughout the movie. It’s about the human experience of isolation, truly, and that’s something that everyone can relate to. It’s a fascinating subject to dive into because, at the end of the day, very rarely, especially nowadays, do we get the experience of that feeling. As an actor, to be able to experience that and dive into it, it’s a scary area. It’s a scary space, and the possibility of a future of you completely alone and what that does to the brain was exciting as an actor because it gives you so much leeway to kind of play with the performance. There’s no right or wrong.
FLYING LOTUS: Being out in New Zealand, too, we were all isolated.
GONZÁLEZ: We were in that warehouse 24/7.
FLYING LOTUS: We didn’t have our stuff or our people or anything, so you got to feel that a bit.
Lotus Wanted to Set ‘Ash’ Apart From ‘Alien’

He believes Alien provided the foundation for survival horror.

Image by Photagonist

That tees up another quote that I wrote down from your director’s statement. I love horror, but in particular, you were talking about survival horror. You said, “Over the years, we’ve seen many different interpretations of science fiction, so many beautiful, wondrous, terrifying visions, yet so many of them fall short in an element that I’ve longed for: survival horror.” What did you think was missing in that sub-genre, and how did you fill that hole in a fresh way with Ash?
FLYING LOTUS: There is some survival horror, but I think there’s a certain kind of DNA that exists since Alien. Best ever! But once that movie came out, that just altered our perception of what a sci-fi horror thing should be, and that’s the foundation. Every movie has the same Alien-looking sets and everything. It just kind of infected us. As much as I loved it, I did at every point try to be like, “Alright, let’s just try not to do Alien with this. Let’s try not to… Alright, we’ve gotta do a little bit of Alien right here.” [Laughs]
PAUL: I mean the set really did take us there. The lighting every single day. The reds, the blues. It just was so hypnotic.
GONZÁLEZ: It’s also my favorite genre of movies. Survival horror is my favorite. It’s always been. It just taps into the psyche of some dark, dark shit of our lives. It’s all existentialism at its finest. I think that the sense of if the world were to end, if we were to be the one left at the end, all these ideas are fascinating to the people. That’s why these movies do so well. People go to it as, like, a moth to a flame.
PAUL: It’s transportive, too. Things get a little too real on Earth, so it’s nice to get off the planet.
I’ll build on that very briefly. Can you name your favorite survival horror movie and then also tell me what your chances of surviving that movie would be?
PAUL: Is 2001 [A Space Odyssey] considered survival? I mean, he’s surviving. HAL’s pretty fucked up.
GONZÁLEZ: For me, The Shining because it is a survival movie. That complete third act is survival at its finest, with a mix of psychological thriller that this movie has as well. Nothing that you think is real or not… I think that when you send the audience into that spin, it’s the best combination.

Image via Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

I feel like no one’s surviving The Shining. I know people do survive The Shining, but really, no one would.
GONZÁLEZ: Losing your mind is the kind of coolest survival movie, of losing that sense of reality. I find that more terrifying than being chased.
FLYING LOTUS: Seeing the descent.
GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, the descent of your brain and sort of losing self-control and not knowing who you are, that’s terrifying.
Do you have an example? Well, you said Alien.
FLYING LOTUS: I did, and it’s probably Alien, but I’m also gonna say High Tension as a random one and The Descent. Oh God, when I saw that movie. The Descent was crazy.
The ‘Ash’ Crew Shared a Creative Vision and Passion

“It really takes a team of caring a lot.”

Image by Photagonist

I’m gonna touch on your experience working with them as their actors’ director, because I feel like we often use the phrase, “What did the director bring out of the actors,” but I love the fact that it can go both ways. What is something about the two of them as actors that brought something new out of you as a director, or maybe added another tool to your directing toolkit that you can now use on another movie?
FLYING LOTUS: Working with them, they’ve been through it all. They’ve seen it, they’ve done it, and it was really cool to just be around people who are just super passionate about their work. I always say, as a joke, “If I was around anyone who cared about my work as much as I do, things would be insane.” I felt like that happened, and that was a really cool thing. I learned how to try to keep my spontaneous brain but still accommodate the actors who are having to deal with that, still try to navigate that, because I’m always like, “Oh, wouldn’t it be cool if we did this,” or, “What if we tried one of these?” And Aaron looked at me like, “What if we do what? We gotta to do what?” I was like, “Alright, let me figure this out.” So, I learned a lot about that and my own process.
That kind of creative enthusiasm is the best. I know you have to get the work done, but also never lose that!
GONZÁLEZ: That was the nice thing about, honestly, working with him. I remember the first phone call that Aaron and I had together after having our individual meetings with him, and we were both like, “Wow.” Truly. I wanna say this to give him the props that he deserves, because we know a lot of first-time directors and people who have ideas, but having a level of vision that he had, it was so clear, so intentional, and that’s really rare when you’re a newborn director. He just gave this sense of complete cool, calm, and collected. It was very inspiring.
Then, on the day of the set, it was really a collaborative effort because it was a script that had the bones, and it was great, but when you’re playing with a psychological thriller, it’s all about real nuances that you can add on the day.

Image by Photagonist

FLYING LOTUS: Or take away.
GONZÁLEZ: Or take away. It really takes a team of caring a lot, and I think that everyone in this team really cared. Aaron came so prepared and had so many ideas, and so did he. His vision board was spectacular. This movie, as we say, was made for no money. It’s an independent movie we did in the back of a dealership in a warehouse in New Zealand out of passion because we believed in him. He believed in me. I believed in us.
PAUL: We go way back. She’s been a dear friend of mine for north of a decade, and when this was presented to us at the same time, we just had each other’s backs for the whole process. Truly, it’s been such a dream.
GONZÁLEZ: And you need that, as you know. When you’re in movies that are so emotionally and physically demanding as this one was for everyone on set—especially because it’s, again, a small-budget movie, so everything’s practical—the whole team has to be well-oiled. If you’re around good people and friends who are going to be there for your emotional support when you’re free-falling that way, that’s undeniably the best gift that anyone could ever give you.
I love how you just put that.
Aaron Paul Has Hope for a Proper ‘Westworld’ Resolution

The series came to an end in 2022, but the actor still believes there’s more story to tell.

Image via Aaron Paul 

I have to wrap with you all in a moment, so I have to end with a couple of unrelated questions. The first one I’m really excited about because it’s for you, Aaron. It’s not necessarily coming directly from me, but it’s coming from one of my Collider team members who is one of the best, a big reason why we’re alive and thriving and why we have the voice in this industry that we do, it’s Tasso. His burning question for you was, do you know how Westworld was meant to end?
PAUL: God, just rip off that Band-Aid.
GONZÁLEZ: Jesus. Early in the morning, too.
PAUL: I do have kind of a sense, and there is a world where maybe we get to tell the rest of that story.
FLYING LOTUS: Maybe don’t say nothing.
PAUL: I’m not going to say anything, but I’m still holding onto the idea that we will be able to complete that story. It was very well flushed out. I knew sort of the broad strokes of it all, and it was really cool. But we’ll see.
I very much like that reason for not spilling all the details! I respect that.

Related

Jonathan Nolan Hopes to Make ‘Westworld’s Cancelled Final Season

Nolan is currently working on another sci-fi series, ‘Fallout’.

Eiza, I’m going to come your way for 3 Body Problem now. Does the new season start filming soon, and because you got the double renewal, does that mean Seasons 2 and 3 will be filmed back to back?
GONZÁLEZ: That is correct. We start pretty soon. I’m very, very excited. I’ve been speaking to Dan [Weiss] and Dave [Benioff]. To me, my favorite books are two and three, especially three. Three is insane. So, we are doing two and three back-to-back, and I think that’s all I can say. I am very excited!
Eiza González Had the Best Time on Boots Riley’s New Movie

The actress will star alongside Will Poulter, Keke Palmer, and Demi Moore in I Love Boosters.

Image by Jefferson Chacon 

I’m gonna add one more for you because I love Boots Riley, and your new film with him sounds wild, I Love Boosters. And that ensemble too! I was reading what the synopsis is …
GONZÁLEZ: Nothing that you read will be able to transport you to what it really is.
Just so our viewers know, it follows a group of shoplifters who take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven. When I look at the genres that IMDb prescribes to it, it says adventure and comedy, which makes sense to me, but then it also says sci-fi. Are you able to tease what the sci-fi is?
GONZÁLEZ: No, I can’t! But it’s definitely sci-fi. I’ve been on a bender of sci-fi. By the way, he’s so excited about our movie, [Flying Lotus]. He was so sweet about you, and vice versa. He’s the best, man. He’s just, like, the most creative human being and kind, and he would walk in with the best fashion. I have a strict rule of only working with fashionable directors, and it’s been living up. And that cast. There was a day where Will Poulter was there, who, by the way, is incredible in his new movie, and Keke [Palmer], who could have me in stitches 24 over seven, and Naomi [Ackei] and Taylour Paige and Poppy [Liu], and then Demi [Moore] was incredible in it, and LaKeith [Stanfield]. It is just deliciously and utterly Boots Riley at its absolute finest.
My last day, I was like, “I don’t want to go,” and he’s like, “Don’t go. Let’s figure it out.” We’re like, “How can we?” Because we became a family. We really had such a good time on that set, and I’m very excited. I’m very excited about that movie.
Special thanks to our 2025 partners at SXSW, including presenting partner Rendezvous Films and supporting partners Bloom, Peroni, Hendrick’s Gin, and Roxstar Entertainment.
Ash arrives in theaters nationwide on March 21.

Ash

Release Date

March 21, 2025

Runtime

95 Minutes

Director

Flying Lotus

Writers

Jonni Remmler

Producers

Neill Blomkamp, Matthew Metcalfe, Nate Bolotin, Aram Tertzakian, Nick Spicer, Maile Daugherty, Adam Riback

Get Tickets