on february 1, 2014, the cinematographer emmanuel lubezki told "deadline" that he is going to work on a film in the desert with his friend rodrigo garcía and ewan mcgregor. he said "it's a tiny little beautiful, extraordinary script that rodrigo wrote that we’re going to shoot for five weeks." on february 5, 2014 two actors, ewan mcgregor and tye sheridan, joined the film cast. mcgregor plays the dual roles of a holy man and a demon. the film is written and directed by rodrigo garcía, while division films and mockingbird pictures produced the film. ayelet zurer and ciarán hinds play the roles of sheridan's character's parents. the film premiered at the 2015 sundance film festival. the movie was shot at anza-borrego desert state park in the colorado desert of southern california.