87-year-old Ridley Scott has no interest in slowing down. Gladiator II hasn’t even left cinemas yet, and we’re already hearing about The Dog Stars – which is not even his next project, but the one after that. (His next project is a Bee Gees biopic, apparently? Ok, Ridley!)
Specifically, we’re hearing courtesy of Variety that Jacob Elordi is set to replace Paul Mescal on the project. Here's everything we know about the film…
What is The Dog Stars?
The film will be an adaptation of Peter Heller’s 2012 book of the same name, in which a man called Hig is living in an almost-empty world, courtesy of a virus that seems to have killed off everyone except him, his neighbour, and his dog. Oh, and he’s got this plane that he likes to fly around – only on short journeys at first (he hasn’t got much fuel left), but eventually he’s tempted to roam a little further, and see what might be out there beyond the horizon.
The book was received extremely well in fantasy/sci-fi book circles and beyond, winning the praise of such esteemed writers as Junot Diaz and The New Yorker’s John Seabrook, so it looks like we might just be in for a big old treat here.
Who’s signed up for The Dog Stars?
Well, as previously mentioned, it initially looked like Mescal was in, but he's now been swapped out for Elordi. (Mescal’s involvement in Sam Mendes’s upcoming Beatles biopic seems to have ruled him out.)
So Elordi steps in to play protagonist Hig. It’s a big move for him, and along with roles in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein and the lead opposite Margot Robbie in Wuthering Heights, it perhaps cements his post-Saltburn transition into Hollywood blockbuster territory.
Aside from Elordi, we have Ridley directing, and the writer adapting Heller’s book into a screenplay will be Mark L. Smith, whose previous screenwriting credits include recent summer blockbuster Twisters and DiCaprio Oscar-winner The Revenant.
When will The Dog Stars come out?
Now there’s a question. This being not even Ridley’s next project but the project after his next project, and Elordi being about to start shooting on Wuthering Heights, one imagines we’re quite a while off. Maybe 2027 or 2028? But hey – good things come to those who wait.
