Flying Lotus has directed the experimental comedy Kuso and the Ozzy’s Dungeon segment of the horror anthology V/H/S/99, and next up for the rapper and filmmaker (who is a.k.a. Steven Ellison) is the sci-fi thriller Ash, starring Eiza González (Baby Driver) and Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad). When González and Paul were cast in the film, Flying Lotus released a statement saying, “We are building something fresh and unique with Ash and having Eiza and Aaron in this world just makes it flames. They are absolute magic makers, brave and equally inspiring. All that to say… We ‘bout to kill this shit.” And apparently they did kill it, because Deadline reports that Amazon’s Prime Video has just secured the international rights to the film in a high-seven figure pact, nearing $10 million. The film is currently in post-production, so we don’t know when Prime Video will be releasing it.
González plays a woman who wakes on a far-flung planet to find her crew mysteriously murdered. When a man (Paul) comes to investigate the scene, she must decide if she can trust him or if he’s responsible for her series of unfortunate events.
Beulah Koale (Hawaii Five-O), Kate Elliott (The Gulf), and Iko Uwais of the Raid films are also in the cast. At one time, Tessa Thompson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were signed on to star in the film, but they both had to drop out and were replaced by González and Paul.
Flying Lotus – who some may know as the FlyLo FM DJ featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto Online – directed the film from a screenplay by Jonni Remmler and is also be composing the score. XYZ Films and GFC Films are producing Ash, with Neill Blomkamp and Echo Lake serving as executive producers. XYZ Films is co-financing the project with IPR.VC. Blomkamp is known for his own directing endeavors, including the films District 9, Elysium, Chappie, and Demonic. Individual producers are Nate Bolotin of XYZ Films and Matthew Metcalfe of GFC Films.
2024 is proving to be an amazing year for the fast-rising Eiza Gonzalez. Widely considered one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood, her role in Michael Bay’s Ambulance probably should have propelled her to A-list status, but the film went largely unseen (despite being one of Bay’s best). Yet, she has several big roles on tap this year that may well help her cross over. There’s Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare on the big screen, co-starring Henry Cavill and Alan Ritchson. But her biggest project is certainly The Three-Body Problem, an adaptation of the Chinese sci-fi saga by Liu Cixin. The series is set to debut on March 21st, and marks the first post-Game of Thrones series for David Benioff & D.B. Weiss.
Are you interested in Ash? What do you think of Prime Video picking up the international rights? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.