Ridley Scott is back in theaters already with The Dog Stars and has explained what pushed him to take on the film, despite his lukewarm feelings about the post-apocalyptic genre.
Since his debut in 1977 with The Duellists, Ridley Scott has kept a blistering pace, delivering films at what one might call a modern-day stakhanovite rate. He counts 29 feature films to his name, and the filmmaker has dabbled in nearly every genre: science fiction (Alien, Blade Runner), fantasy (Legend), drama (Thelma & Louise), horror-thriller (Hannibal), war cinema (Black Hawk Down), sweeping medieval epics (Kingdom of Heaven, The Last Duel), and historical sagas (Napoleon, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, All the Money in the World).
Yet, astonishing as it may seem, the British director never before tackled a genre that seems tailor-made for his appetite for spectacular action: the post-apocalyptic. So it took his 30th feature, The Dog Stars, to bring this kind of story to the forefront for him. But is that really surprising? Not if you listen to Ridley Scott, who explained why he decided to helm The Dog Stars.
OH, THE GOOD DOG OF THE STARS
As he recounted to Empire magazine, Ridley Scott wavered before he agreed to direct The Dog Stars, the adaptation of Peter Heller’s novel of the same name. For the Alien filmmaker, the post-apocalyptic genre is already well-trodden in Hollywood, and he doesn’t love every component of it:
“There are too many end-of-the-world stories. […] It’s not The Road. I didn’t want to redo World War Z; no zombies, please. I kept asking myself: ‘What the hell am I going to do with this?’”
Fortunately, the screenplay was penned by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant, The Midnight Sky or Twisters) and Christopher Wilkinson (Ali, Gemini Man). And it’s safe to say their draft won Ridley Scott’s approval:
“There’s a lot of optimism in this narrative and, at the end of the day, people need each other.”
Another factor that rekindled the director’s enthusiasm for The Dog Stars was the opportunity to work with Jacob Elordi:
“Did you see [the series] The Narrow Road? He’s excellent in it. I really enjoyed shooting Gladiator II with Paul [Mescal], and at first I thought it would be him. But he ended up playing Paul McCartney; since he’s a friend, I won’t complain. Either way, I’d had Jacob in mind for a while. He grew up on a farm, he knows how to drive tractors, he’s great with dogs, and he’s a very hands-on man who loves the outdoors. I met him, and the deal was sealed.”
Empire nonetheless posed one final question: wouldn’t all the action scenes in the film present a daunting challenge? The answer from the filmmaker:
“No action sequence gives me trouble, man. Are you kidding me? It’s easy.”
Despite a recent winter of discontent for his cinema, Ridley Scott does not seem to doubt his own talent. One hopes this bodes well. The Dog Stars is slated to hit theaters on August 26, 2026.
