Aaron Paul Thinks AI Is Scarier Than Any ‘Black Mirror’ Episode
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Aaron Paul’s service isn’t so hot. After all, he’s currently in the wilds of Idaho for the summer, holed up in a little mountain town. “We have a cabin up in this place called McCall, so just going to kind of be floating the river, hanging out at the lake, that sort of thing all summer,” he says over the crackling line. “Trying to be as isolated as possible, get away from the madness.”
That madness could be a lot of things — political upheaval, the endless churn of the news cycle, the slow creep of AI into our everyday lives — but today it means a break from shooting grueling projects like “Beyond the Sea,” a standout episode in Season Six of Netflix’s Black Mirror. That episode, which premiered earlier this month, tells the chilling tale of two astronauts, Cliff (Paul) and David (Josh Hartnett), in an alternate-reality Sixties where spacemen have extremely lifelike “Links” back on Earth, which allow them to go about their everyday lives between maintenance work. When David’s “Link” is destroyed by a Manson-esque cult that also kills his entire family, Cliff — at his wife’s suggestion — allows David to use his, who resides on a remote farm not dissimilar to where Paul currently lives. Predictably, things start to go awry when David falls for Cliff’s wife and begins to enmesh himself in their family, leading to a tragedy that mirrors the one that opens the episode — and the two men alone in space.
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Creator Charlie Brooker warned that this season of the hit sci-fi show would be the bleakest yet, and he didn’t fail to deliver — deepfake nightmares, true-crime mortality tales, and actual demons populate the Netflix series. Still, “Beyond the Sea” is decidedly the most bleak, and Paul is well aware. Rolling Stone spoke with the Breaking Bad actor about the horrors and promises of space, unplugging, and why AI is more sinister than any Black Mirror episode.
What drew you to the script? How did you get involved in this season?
Oh man, I’ve been wanting to be a part of this world for some time now. I made it very evident that my hand is raised if they ever wanted to approach me. I’ve been a fan of Black Mirror since it started airing in the U.K. And when they approached me years ago to do the little voice-over in “USS. Callister,” I pleaded with them to come back to me with another role other than just a one-scene bit part. And Charlie was really excited that I was a big fan of the show. We tried to make it happen last season, but just the scheduling wouldn’t allow it. And then this landed on my desk out of nowhere, and I of course read it instantly, and of course, here we are.
So what struck you about this episode?
Charlie said thinking of me for this, he wrote it during lockdown. It felt very inspired by isolation. We all were in a bit of isolation for far too long, and I just really responded to it. I read it while I was in Ojai [California] on my farm, and I don’t know, it just felt right.
You own a farm? Like a functioning farm?
Yeah. It’s a walnut farm. It’s been a walnut farm for years. But we don’t sell the walnuts, we just give them away to friends.
So you really could step into that character’s shoes as living on a farm?
Yeah. And I grew up going to farms. Both my parents grew up on farms in Idaho. Black Mirror is such a reminder of the dangers of technology. Obviously, we know this, but there’s just something about the simple life that I gravitate toward. I love it. The fresh air, it’s clean. Live off the land, work. There’s just something about that that I love.
This episode also obviously takes place in space as well. Were you a big space fan as a kid?
Oh, yeah. I don’t know anyone that isn’t. Growing up, I would go to the mountains and just sit in camping chairs staring at the sky, watching for shooting stars and kind of dreaming. And then as an adult, I’m always looking at the stars. My wife and I will open up a bottle of wine and just talk about the universe for hours, always kind of searching and guessing and trying to figure out what the hell’s going on, but you quickly realize that none of us really know anything, which is also kind of exciting.
Are you one of those people who would go to space if you could, or do you find it terrifying?
No, I would go there in a heartbeat as long as there was a guarantee I could come back. I’m not one of those insane people that would be down to just sign up for a one-way trip out to space and try to colonize some other planet. But there’s something about space that’s just … I would love to see the curvature of the Earth and see the place we call home from a different point of view.
So the character that you played, Cliff, what did you do to get into his shoes? When you first read him on the page, how did you picture yourself immersing yourself in him?
He’s kind of a standoffish guy, and so that was an interesting thing. I feel like whenever I meet someone, I want to hug them and say hello. I don’t know, I’m a hugger and a loving guy. He’s a little by the book. That’s definitely the way he was raised. It’s a generational thing, and it’s just trying to get in that mindset. Before diving into things on set, I loved revisiting some of my old favorite sci-fi films, films that just kind of take place in space and help to tackle those sorts of otherworldly stories.
When you were playing Cliff, being in his own Link and David in the Cliff Link, how did you differentiate that? Did you study Josh Hartnett’s mannerisms?
Yeah, for sure. What I love is that their differences are pretty apparent. It seems as though David’s home is sort of like that picture-perfect, beautiful home. You get an introduction to this guy, and he’s drawing his kids sitting down on the couch. Seems as though he has a very loving, passionate relationship with his wife. Very polar opposite to the relationship that Cliff has with his. Not that they both don’t want it, but somewhere it sort of started creeping away from them. And they need some help in that part of their relationship, that’s for sure.
And then the relationship with him and his boy, I think probably kind of mirrors the relationship that he had with his father. And I’m sure his father even had a much heavier hand when raising Cliff. And so Cliff is kind of doing his best, his personal best, but he’s just kind of marching forward. I think the difference is Cliff is a little standoffish, very closed off to the outside world, a little bit uncomfortable in social situations, and just kind of wants the conversations to end. Where David, he’s very charismatic, outgoing, loving, funny, and charming, and that’s very Josh. So I’m just trying to mirror what I’ve learned from that guy.
Were there mannerisms or gestures that you gleaned from him? I’m thinking of how David dances with his wife at the beginning of the episode — and then David dances with Cliff’s wife as Cliff near the end.
The dance was a very specific thing. We had multiple dance lessons, and we were in there together. Cliff is definitely not a dancer, nor would he ever put himself on a dance floor. And so it was nice to be free in Cliff’s body with David sort of pulling the strings.
Which of you is the better dancer, you or Josh?
Oh, Josh is pretty good. Look, personally, I love being on the dance floor. I don’t shy away from the dance floor. I’m not saying I’m a great dancer by any means. I’m a terrible dancer, but I have a good time doing it. But yeah, I feel like we were picking up on the moves pretty early on, but if I had to be honest, maybe he was picking up some moves a little earlier than I.
So you mentioned that this episode was written during lockdown, but what do you think it has to say about what we’re scared of today?
Oh, man. This specific episode is sort of about the dangers of technology — it’s something that couldn’t be farther from the natural world, and they say that in the script. I’m right there with them. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I would join that insane cult that killed that family. Of course not. But I feel like there are some very loud alarm bells going off in every direction, and we’re at a time where we could listen to them and maybe slow some things down. But we’re almost at the point of no return. I think AI and all of that is very dangerous. Yeah, you get some cool graphics, but when it starts to just take away jobs first and foremost … It’s a slippery slope. Be careful what you wish for.
I can kind of understand what the Amish community is all about. You know what I mean? Just work with your hands, love the ones around you, protect the ones around you, and stay away from all the noise. Anytime I get to the mountains, where I’m at right now, and just breathe this clean air and just be around nature — there’s just something about it.
As an actor, how do you feel about AI?
Yeah, it’s scary. I want to go to set, I want to learn my lines, I want to work with the crew that I slowly get to know through the season or the series or the film. It’s very much a collaborative effort to make a project happen.
It’s so hard to make a movie, and it’s so hard to make a series. We work grueling hours, and it’s very much a team effort. With AI, you can just slap anyone’s face on those roles, and then the computer will just generate something for you. Right now, it’s kind of slapped together. But a year from now, two years from now, five years from now, it’s going to be insane. None of us are going to be able to tell what is real and what is not. We’re almost there right now today. So our technology pretty much doubles every two years, and so who knows what’s right around the corner?
So, I don’t want to keep you too long on your vacation, but I’m curious: What are your feelings on life on other planets?
I think it’s pretty closed-minded to think that we are the end-all, be-all. That’s pretty insane. But do I believe that we have been visited by aliens? Who knows? I would love that to be the fact, but I think our imagination is very large and our minds can play funny games with us.
There’s been numerous times I’m like, “That has to be a UFO.” Then it’s a SpaceX rocket, and it’s not. Or I’m like, “Oh, that’s a UFO,” and it’s the satellite that Elon is shooting up into space. I definitely do not think that we are alone. With the new James Webb Telescope, they just discovered a black hole that is 40 times the size of the sun. That is insane to think about.
You weren’t kidding about being kind of a space nerd, huh?
Oh, yeah. Come on, everyone should put their phones down and look up.
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