Ridley Scott on The Dog Stars: "Entertainment should also challenge you – you can’t just sit there grinning at some stupid movie"

One of the year’s most exhilarating cinematic thrill rides arrives with Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie with a brilliant cast. Leading the way is Euphoria star Jacob Elordi as Hig, a civilian pilot who’s accompanied by his trusty canine Jasper, as he explores the possibility there may life beyond the rural compound in Colorado where he lives with ex-Marine Bangley (Josh Brolin).

Soon after he sets out on his journey, Hig meets young medic Cima (Margaret Qualley) and her ex Navy Seal dad, Pops (Guy Pearce), who eventually takes a shine to Hig after a bumpy beginning.

Inevitably, though, their search for a new beginning comes under intense threat, while back at his base, Bangley even has to deal with rampaging gangs on the prowl for weapons, food and supplies. Set in the aftermath of a devastating flu pandemic, The Dog Stars certainly captures some of the atmosphere of these post-Covid times.

Jacob Elordi and Margaret Qualley in The Dog Stars. Photo by Fabio Lovino. © 2026 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Scott is a bona fide film legend, thanks to his work on masterpieces like Alien and Blade Runner, not to mention a raft of further classics such as Thelma & Louise, Gladiator and Hot Press favourite Black Rain. One the great visual stylists, he unsurprisingly does a brilliant job with the action set-pieces, while the raid on Bangley’s compound – shot in eerie night vision – immediately takes its place on the director’s formidable career highlights reel.

In choosing to film The Dog Stars – which is adapted by Mark. L Smith from a 2012 novel by Peter Heller – Scott says that, as always, everything begins with the story.

“It entirely depends on the read,” he notes. “The first time you go through a script or a book, it’s all about the writer at that point. If we get it right, there’s no reason not to do it, so I just go. With regard to story changes, it depends on how good the source material is – if it’s perfect, you don’t change that much.

“But it’s never quite perfect, so in the dynamics of a movie, it’s different to a book. When I was developing it, I got a great screenplay from Mark Smith. But within that, I found there were moments I had to change. It was either too much or not quite enough.”

Which moments in particular?

“Well, when you see the film, we evolve into the third act,” explains Scott. “Hig always dreamt there might be a better place than where he was, and that’s where we end up. Without going into the story, when we arrive at that place, I had to evolve that into something quite different. We find a sanctuary, which is not a sanctuary, it’s more of a food factory. The thing about human meat – it’s food.”

As well as Brolin and Qualley, Elordi of course shares a fair amount of his screen time with his dog, and he found the right choice of snacks was a particularly effective means of extracting the desired performance.

Jasper and Jacob Elordi as Hig in The Dog Stars. Photo by Fabio Lovino. © 2026 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

“The dogs respond way better to cold cuts, and things like that, than traditional treats,” he reasons. “But you know, you use both effectively. In terms of acting alongside them, I liked it very much. It’s no more unpredictable than working with Josh or Guy! In a great way, it was wonderful. They’re such talented dogs.”

Elsewhere, there are some of powerful moments of shared grief between Hig and Cima, as they reflect on their pre-pandemic lives.

“Not just Margaret and I, but all of us, when were weren’t on set, spent a lot time with the script,” says Elordi. “We were trying to personalise it, and chop and change it – make it more real to ourselves. Margaret and I worked on that relationship, and tried to inject some reality into those moments. She’s such a great actress and collaborator.”

When it comes to Scott’s directorial style, Brolin notes that he likes to keep the cast on their toes.

“Ridley creates a design on-set that’s a little dangerous and elusive, so you don’t really know what direction it could go,” he says. “You have your base, and then you’re kind of rewriting and experimenting while you’re doing it. In terms of Hig and Bangley, Ridley described them as the odd couple, and I like that reference.

When we and Jacob met, we it hit it off right away. As much as the characters were developed in the book and the script, we took it from that point and then we had our own thing. We started to really rely on each other, and I think that comes across in the movie.”

The father-daughter dynamic between Pearce and Qualley’s characters, meanwhile, adds a fascinating additional texture to The Dog Stars.

“The interesting thing for me, playing her father was, on some level, he’s a father who doesn’t really know much, other than trying to protect her,” muses Pearce. “It’s almost like he doesn’t understand who she is. The mother having passed away, he’s left to raise this daughter, and he’s not a particularly emotional man. So he digs his heels in, in this protective way.

“It’s only when Hig comes along that I see the potential for her to have a future.

"Deep down, I think he wants her to have a better future than what they’re currently living. Once he starts to trust Hig, and sees she has a connection to him, Pops softens a little. Some of who he used to be comes back – and I become very funny! I’m the comic relief in the movie.”

Guy Pearce in The Dog Stars. © 2026 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

With Italy standing in for Colorado, in addition to the kinetic action, The Dog Stars also boasts incredible aerial and mountain photography.

“It’s stunning,” nods Pearce. “It does half the work for you, in a way. Once you’re on a particular set, or in a particular environment, it says so much about the mood you’re trying to create.”

“The peaks aren’t quite the Rockies, but they’re good enough,” says Scott. “If you’re a rock climber, the Dolomites are all you need.”

“We were staying in a little village,” adds Brolin. “I had my family with me, and there are these amazing chapels in there, and a few restaurants. It’s this communal experience – it’s kind of old school, they don’t do that so much anymore. But you’re all living in the same vicinity, so you’re seeing each other all the time, whether you’re on the set or not. That’s special.”

Still, there’s no getting away from the film’s darker aspects. Describing himself as a “news-hound” who obsessively monitors current events, Scott says the chance to reflect various contemporary anxieties – such as war, climate change and disease outbreaks – was part of the appeal of making The Dog Stars.

“I don’t want to make it into a documentary,” he considers. “In the very loose sense of the term, it does need to entertain. But entertainment should also challenge you – you can’t just sit there grinning at some stupid movie. It’s great when it starts telling you something. At its core, the film speaks to you, but on top of that I try to find the human behaviour – which is the empathy, the sympathy and the humour.

"I try and hide what I think, because I tend to get very dark, being Celtic. I was killed on Blade Runner for being so dark, I’ve never forgotten that. I got crucified! Pauline Kael, dude – four pages of destruction. I framed it my office. I never read a critic, with respect to you guys, cos you’ll kill me for saying that!”

In discussing the various international crises currently playing out, Scott makes particular reference to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“I was going to do a film about Ebola with Jodie Foster,” he says, a scenario that immediately takes it place in the all-time movie ‘what ifs’. “The Ebola broke out in the Ebola River in West Africa. It just happened again, and it’s out of control. Because we cut down on global CDC – we cut down on the budget and that’s how it happens. The United States should be the great watchdog of the world. That’s who they are and always were.”

Elordi is clearly excited to have worked with Scott, having previously described the director as “a pioneer of cinema”. Was there specific moment where he felt that?

“I got in trouble for saying that!” he chuckles. “Honestly, it was every single day. It’s like Ridley mainlines the shooting process. It comes to life in the morning and it’s like nothing I’ve seen before, really.”

Jacob Elordi in The Dog Stars. © 2026 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

How does the director do that?

“It used to be Marlboro and then it became cigars,” quips Scott. “I did four packs of Marlboro Reds and I’m still here… Don’t smoke!”

Was there an especially memorable behind-the scenes moment for the cast?

“When Margaret and Guy came in,” says Brolin. “We had gotten a rhythm, and then Margaret came in and was shellshocked. Because whatever that chaos was that we were reactive to in the beginning, it became an addictive process. You never knew how a scene was going to go, no matter how much prep you did. You were like, ‘I think I understand this scene’ and all that.

“Then Ridley would say, ‘Why don’t we cut this or do that?’ In the beginning, you’re going ‘This is chaos, it’s going to be horrible.’ Then it turns out it’s the most nutritious feeling, creatively.”

Scott, for his part, says he’s constantly pursuing a certain authenticity in the performances.

“I used to do documentaries with Don Pennebaker and Richard Leacock,” he recalls. “They invented documentaries. I did a documentary on JFK, who was taking Connecticut from Hubert Humphreys before he became president of the United States. There were scenes in a motel of JFK and his wife, eating sandwiches and talking about what happened that day.

“That natural process – I try and shake the box and make it natural.”

Finally, what did Elordi find most surprising about working with the great directorial maestro.

“I can’t think of anything that was really surprising, he’s so wonderful to work with,” he says. “He’s so open to us as actors, and he’s obviously such a visual filmmaker. But he gave us such freedom within the text to do what we wanted to do. And he gave us the space to do that. But that’s not necessarily surprising, because he’s one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. He lives up to and exceeds expectations.”

The Dog Stars is in cinemas now.