Before directing “Ash,” Flying Lotus received a piece of advice from Guillermo del Toro.
“He told me: ‘only direct the films that need you,’” says Flying Lotus, the nom de plume for music producer Steven Bingley-Ellison.
It’s a little over a week before the SXSW premiere of “Ash,” Ellison’s first full-length feature film. “Ash” follows the 2017 horror anthology film “Kuso,” which Ellison directed and co-wrote and premiered at Sundance. Through that, he connected with XYZ Films executive producer Nate Bolotin, who helped him track down his next project. Nothing resonated on the Del Toro-level until Ellison was sent the script for “Ash,” a trippy sci-fi action-horror.
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“I felt like there was an opportunity for me to build and add something to this,” he says.
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Like Ellison’s other directorial work, “Ash” is rooted in body horror, a subgenre that’s had a recent boost in mainstream film thanks to the popularity of movies like recent awards contender “The Substance” starring Demi Moore.
“The body horror stuff is the [material] that I resonate with the most,” says Ellison. “We’re always struggling in our own skin. We’re all dwelling on our own insecurities. I think about that, and just the awkwardness of life,” he adds. “It’s a really easy thing for me to pull from, and it’s something that we all know. Body horror — we all got bodies. We all know what bodies are supposed to do and what they’re not supposed to do.”
“Ash” stars Eiza González and Aaron Paul. “They were friends before the film,” says Ellison. “They wanted to work together on something, and it just worked out perfectly.”
The film opens with González as an astronaut waking up inside a space station located on a planet being terraformed; she is alone and disoriented, but in between neon-hued flashbacks it’s revealed that she wasn’t always alone. A new crew member, played by Paul, shows up to help in the aftermath of discovering that her other crew mates have been killed.
“Trying to find the perfect person for this role was super challenging,” says Ellison. “And she just kind of ticked all the boxes on paper — but when we had our first meeting, our first Zoom talk, she was like, ‘I read the script and it kind of reminded me of Silent Hill.’ And I was like, OK, you get it.
“And Aaron, working with him, he was like a quarterback. Everybody loves Aaron Paul,” Ellison continues. “He brought the good vibes. Aside from the great acting and everything else, he just brought this really great energy with him, always. It was really infectious.”
Flying Lotus got his start as an experimental music producer, establishing his independent record label Brainfeeder in 2008. His album “It Is What It Is” won a Grammy in 2021, and he was nominated in 2016 for his contributions as a producer and writer on Kendrick Lamar’s album “To Pimp a Butterfly,” as well as for their jazzy collaborative rap track “Never Catch Me.” Music runs in the family: his grandmother wrote several Motown hits, and his great aunt was the wife of John Coltrane. Ellison’s background in music led him to create the musical score for “Ash,” and the film’s musical influence began on set.
“I would play music between takes and between setups and stuff on set. Everyone looked at me like I’m the DJ,” he says, adding that he was surprised to learn it wasn’t standard for directors to play music on set. His playlist included jazz; “Chariots of Fire” composer Vangelis; Radiohead for Paul and Selena for Gonzalez.
“You’re there [on set] 12 hours all day. So you got plenty of time in between moments to feel some new energy,” says Ellison. “It was also a way for me to psychologically get the crew and the cast in the headspace of what we’re doing, and the energy that we need. Like, we need to move faster — I’m gonna play some house music. We’re doing some trippy stuff — I’m gonna play some trippy ambience.”
The film features a lean supporting cast, and Ellison himself makes a short appearance in the film as a crew member on the space station, a casting choice that was made more for necessity — they had difficulty finding a New Zealand-based Black actor to complete the ensemble.
“I waited until the very bitter end to put myself in the movie,” he says. “We were trying to figure it out for so long, and then we’d all kind of joke around like, ‘yeah, you know, you’re going to be the one who does it,’” he adds. “And then eventually the joke became reality.”
The film received generally favorable reviews, with critics at SXSW lukewarm on the slow burn of the script but praising the striking visual aesthetic and psychedelic-tinged soundscape. “Ash” is being released in theaters on Friday, a week after its festival premiere.
Asked if he’s planning to continue making movies, Ellison hedges his answer ahead of the film’s premiere; he wants to make art that is serving the audience. If they hate the film, he’ll just move on to find his next great project. “ If the audience wants me to make more movies, I’ll know,” he says.
“Sometimes films that came out five years ago that people hated are celebrated today. So it’s one of those things where I just want to do whatever is the fun project. If something really good comes my way that needs me, then maybe I’ll have to do it. Until then, I can just keep making music,” he adds. “I can do that without millions of dollars.”