Tessa Thompson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt Hooked up To Flying Lotus ‘Ash’ – Deadline

Tessa Thompson (Westworld) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Tremendous Pumped) are connected to star within the sci-fi thriller Ash, which the Grammy-winning musician and filmmaker Flying Lotus — in any other case referred to as Steven Ellison — will direct as his sophomore function, as we first reported in January. Neill Blomkamp (District 9) has since then come aboard to exec produce the pic, which its financier XYZ Movies will rep for worldwide gross sales on the upcoming Toronto Film Festival.

Whereas at TIFF to fulfill with key patrons for Ash, Flying Lotus will seem in assist of his section of V/H/S/99, which is having its world premiere within the Midnight part of the competition.

The brand new movie, for which the multi-hyphenate will even compose an unique rating, watches as a girl (Thompson) wakes up on a distant planet and finds the crew of her house station viciously killed, and should then determine if she will belief the person (Gordon-Levitt) despatched to rescue her. However as their investigation into what occurred units in movement a terrifying chain of occasions, he begins to surprise how harmless she actually is.

Jonni Remmler wrote the unique screenplay for the movie, trying to enter manufacturing in New Zealand subsequent 12 months. It’s Flying Lotus’ follow-up to the Sundance-premiering physique horror anthology, Kuso. XYZ Movies and GFC Movies will produce, with Blomkamp exec producing alongside Echo Lake Leisure. Ash follows XYZ’s collaboration with GFC on Toa Fraser’s New Zealand Oscar entry The Useless Lands, which was offered to the U.S. market by James Cameron, and Toa’s subsequent action-thriller 6 Days starring Jamie Bell, Mark Robust and Abbie Cornish, which debuted globally on Netflix in 2017.

“It’s an absolute dream come true to collaborate with a few of the most proficient actors on the market!,” stated Flying Lotus.

GFC’s Founder and Managing Director Matthew Metcalfe and XYZ Movies Companion Nate Bolotin added, “We couldn’t be happier for Tessa and Joseph to headline this movie, they’re each extremely proficient and gifted actors. With Steve on the helm, that is going to be a really visionary movie and we couldn’t be extra excited to take the undertaking into manufacturing in 2023.”

Thompson is an Emmy- and BAFTA Award-nominated actress and producer who reprised her Marvel function as Valkyrie for the current Thor: Lover and Thunder, additionally just lately returning for the fourth season of HBO’s Westworld. Different notable big-screen credit from current years embody Rebecca Corridor’s directorial debut Passing, and Prime Video’s Sylvie’s Love, which she additionally exec produced, in addition to Selma, Pricey White Folks and the Creed movies. Amongst Thompson’s upcoming initiatives is Creed III, which is at present in post-production, with its launch set for subsequent March. Her manufacturing firm Viva Maude is actively in growth on initiatives together with Secret Lives of Church Girls, Luster and Who Fears Demise.

Gordon-Levitt is a two-time Emmy winner who most just lately starred as Uber’s Travis Kalanick within the first season of Showtime’s anthology sequence Tremendous Pumped, previous to that starring within the Apple TV+ sequence Mr. Corman, which he additionally created and directed. The actor recognized for turns in movies like Inception, Looper, his function directorial debut Don Jon and 50/50 just lately wrapped manufacturing on the indie comedy Windfall with Lily James and Himesh Patel, and can voice Jiminy Cricket in Robert Zemeckis’ upcoming live-action-animation hybrid Pinocchio, which is slated for launch on Disney+ on September 8.

XYZ Movies is an unbiased studio based in 2008 by Bolotin, Nick Spicer and Aram Tertzakian. XYZ’s present initiatives embody The Black Kaiser with Mads Mikkelsen, Hounds of Conflict starring Frank Grillo, Robert Patrick and Rhona Mitra, and the Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead movie One thing within the Filth, which premiered at Sundance 2022. Its present slate additionally contains Nic Cassavetes’ God Is a Bullet starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maika Monroe and Jamie Foxx, Lorcan Finnegan’s Nocebo with Eva Inexperienced and Mark Robust, and BAFTA nominee Phillip Barantini’s Accused. The corporate is at present in post-production on the Netflix Authentic Havoc, directed by Gareth Evans and starring Tom Hardy and Forrest Whitaker.

An Auckland-based manufacturing firm led by Metcalfe, GFC Movies’ present titles embody Christine Jeffs’ medical misadventure drama A Mistake and an adaptation of Mark Manson’s international bestseller, The Delicate Artwork of Not Giving a F*ck.

Echo Lake Leisure is the manufacturing and administration firm behind Hulu’s Emmy-nominated comedy sequence The Nice, starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, which has been renewed for a 3rd season. Different current credit embody All of the Shiny Locations and Oxygen for Netflix, Van Helsing for Syfy and The Secrets and techniques We Maintain, which was distributed by Bleecker Avenue.

Thompson is repped by WME, Mosaic and Jackoway Austen Tyerman; Gordon-Levitt by WME and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.