A post-apocalyptic environment is hardly a new setting for a film—but few directors are better suited to it than Ridley Scott.
Based on Peter Heller's 2012 novel, ‘The Dog Stars’ is the legendary filmmaker’s latest feature, following the world after a deadly flu outbreak has decimated most of Earth’s population.
One survivor, Hig (Jacob Elordi), a young pilot and mechanic, along with Bangley (Josh Brolin), a gritty military survivalist, have found their own fortress of refuge. But Hig grows anxious to explore for more survivors and, along the way, meets people like Cima (Margaret Qualley) and Pops (Guy Pearce).
For Scott, the decision to direct ultimately came down to the writing. “The hardest thing to do is to write the book and write the screenplay or adapt it or write an original screenplay,” he notes at a Global Press conference for the film, adding that a strong script is mainly “a blueprint of the building you’re about to do.”
Scott says only three screenplays have landed on his desk in his 40 years of filmmaking that immediately made him want to direct: ‘Alien’, ‘The Martian’ and 'The Dog Stars.'
“With this film’s script, page 10, I’m engaged; at 50 I’m starting to perspire [and think] please don’t drop the ball,” he recalls. “At the end, he didn’t drop the ball. So I said, ‘I’ll do it.’ All the components are in there—the characters, the story, the time, the place. It’s all in there.”
A central part of the plot is the relationships, and with the population so futile in this setting, that raises the stakes for the emotional components of the story.
A prime example of that is the bond between Hig and Bangley. Differences in personalities make them fit together in a survival component, but it also causes some obstacles for the duo. To get that organic feel, the actors and Scott worked on keeping the set environment as collaborative as possible.
“When [Jacob] and I first met, we kind of hit it off right away. Ridley creates a design on set that’s a little dangerous and a little elusive so you don’t really know what direction you’re going,” explains Brolin.
“You know you have your base, and then you’re kind of rewriting and experimenting while you’re doing it. So, as much as the characters are developed in the book or in the script, we took it from that point, and we had our own thing. We started to really rely on each other, and I think that comes across in the movie.”
Another central partnership is between Pops and Cima. For Pearce, playing Pops meant exploring a man who has been hardened by loss but still wants something better for his daughter.
“The interesting thing, for me, on some level he’s a father who doesn’t really know [anything] other than just to try and protect. I think [her] mother having passed away, he’s left to raise this daughter. He’s not a particularly emotional man and certainly not able to articulate anything emotional. So he really digs his heels in this protectionist sort of way,” adds Pearce.
“It’s only when [Hig] comes along and I see that there’s possibility for her to have a future that changes. Because deep down, he wants her to have a better future than what they’re currently living. Once he starts to trust Hig and starts to see that she has a connection to him, I think Pops then sort of softens a little and some of who he used to be comes back.”
For Elordi, working with Scott was less about surprises than it was about the freedom the director gave his actors. Despite Scott’s reputation as a highly visual filmmaker with such a distinct cinematic style, Elordi said he never felt confined by that vision. Instead, Scott created space for the cast to find their own way into the material.
“He’s so wonderful to work with and so open to us as actors. He gave us such freedom within the text to kind of do what we wanted to do, and he gave us the space to do that… but that’s not necessarily surprising. He’s one of the greatest filmmakers of all time — he lives up and exceeds expectations.”
The film’s post-apocalyptic setting may feel extreme, but Scott doesn’t see its underlying anxieties as particularly far-fetched. For him, the story works not by preaching about those issues, but by using them as a backdrop for exploring how people behave when the world around them begins to fall apart.
“A lot of this is happening already and we just put our blinkers on, on every level — on climate change and chaos in certain territories around the world,” finishes Scott. "The film should entertain... but entertainment should also challenge you. "
‘The Dog Stars’ opens in theaters Aug. 28.
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